Burn Your Mistakes And Rebuild

Your whole world can change in a moment, and the first battle is often internal: fear, regret, and that sinking feeling that you won’t recover. We tell a striking story from Thomas Edison’s life when a spectacular 1914 fire tore through his West Orange, New Jersey laboratory complex. The damage was massive, the money wasn’t there, and yet his response was calm, direct, and future-focused. 
We sit with the line that reframes failure: “Thank goodness our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start again fresh.” That mindset isn’t denial; it’s resilience. From there, we get personal about how mistakes cling to us longer than they should, and why God calls us to a steadier way of living when pressure hits. Psalm 112 says those who trust the Lord “will have no fear of bad news,” and we explore what that kind of steadfast heart looks like when the news is about finances, grief, or health. 



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Transcript

Welcome To A New Monday

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mack, and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right.

The Edison Fire In New Jersey

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Well, good morning and welcome to Monday. Today I would like to tell you a story about Thomas Edison. He had a large laboratory and complex in West Orange, New Jersey. But on December 9th, 1914, a spectacular fire destroyed over half of his buildings after an explosion in the film inspection building. The New York Times said that damages were worth over seven million dollars, and only two million of that would be covered by insurance. When the fire broke out, Edison's son Charles went looking for him, and he couldn't find his father. When he looked up and saw his dad rushing towards him, shouting, Where's Mom? Go get her. Tell her to get her friends. They'll never see a fire like this again. Edison was actually looking forward to watching the fire.

We’re Rebuilding From The Ruins

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Early the next morning, the fire still smoldering in the background. Edison called the employees back together and he said, We're rebuilding. One man was told to lease all the machinery shops in the area, another to get a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company. Then almost as an afterthought, he added, Oh, and by the way, anybody know where you can get some money? Later on in a conversation with some journalists, he said, You can always make capital out of disaster. We've just cleared a bunch of old rubbish and we'll build bigger and better on these ruins. Thank goodness our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start again fresh. What an amazing attitude. One of the greatest minds and inventors of the time who just lost half of everything he had and had nowhere near enough money to replace it. But he still said, Look,

When Mistakes Won’t Let Go

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we just burned up all our mistakes. Now we can do something better. There have been several times in my life where I would have loved to have had Edison's attitude. There go my mistakes. They're behind me. Okay, let's move on. My mistakes tend to linger. They tend to hang on to me more than they should. Yet Edison displayed the kind of attitude I think that God wants us to show in our lives. I'm not sure about Thomas Edison's view of

Psalm 112 And Steady Hearts

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God, but he certainly displayed an attitude that God would have approved of in this situation. He looked ahead and said, Let's get going, guys, we got more to do. Psalm hundred and twelve is talking about those that love God and serve Him. In verse seven it says, They will have no fear of bad news, their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Imagine being able to be that consistent, to be that persistent with our faith, that if and when bad news comes, we are not shaken, we're not rattled, we're not knocked down, when all of a sudden the income disappears, when all of a sudden a loved one is gone. There's a report from the doctor that is terrifying. Imagine being in the place where you have no fear of the bad news, and you can rise up and

A Cancer Report Met With Scripture

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say, I will go forward. There's the story of a woman who received a report from the doctor who told her she had stage four pancreatic cancer. She had less than four months to live. But instead of being in fear, she looked into the Bible and wrote down all the promises of God about healing, about strength, about direction, of God's love and God's care. She wrote them down on cards and put them around her house, and for the next four months, she began to read those verses out loud every day. Then for the four months after that, she read those verses out loud every day. She continued to read those verses and stand on what God's word is and not allow herself to be overwhelmed with fear, but to be filled with the hope that there is in Jesus Christ. Now today, some thirty years later, she is still going strong

Choosing Peace Over Fear

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and she is cancer free. Our God is not a God of fear. Our God is a God of peace and strength. When something bad happens, God is still with you. When something really horrible happens, he's with you even more. He's there to throw his arms around you and surround you with his love, his goodness, and his care, and to hold you and to carry you through the challenge that you are facing. All he asks of us is that we trust him, that we put our faith in him, and that we let him carry us in the direction he wants to go, and we don't let fear carry us away from him.

Goodbye And Daily Invitation

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Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.