Category Archives: Tony Funderburk

Tony Funderburk is THE Rhyme and Reason author, singer-songwriter. He’s written and published 30+ books for kids and adults in addition to scores of articles. And he’s composed hundreds of songs (and a couple of books) for businesses and loyal listeners.

Tens of thousands of families have enjoyed and supported his recorded music and live performances for many years. Tony believes our existence is a beautiful gift from God to each of us, including our gifts and talents.

So, we should use them to create and serve others. When you tune in to Tony Funderburk’s The Power of God’s Love Podcast, you’ll get rhymes, reasons, and songs delivered to your inbox for free. AND click here to get free songs and a book right away. And Click here to learn more about Tony’s story.

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It doesn’t help you evolve. And I don’t mean metaphorically. And it doesn’t build up your muscles. So you don’t become one of the strong who survive. And many say it doesn’t actually provide any tangible benefits. So, why love anything at all?

That’s the glaring question. Why love anything at all?

Especially when you can’t even put your finger on what love is. And I don’t think most people can anymore. But have you ever thought about the source of love? I sure have.

Since it isn’t anything you can detect with any of your five senses, it’s hard to think about how it starts or where it is inside of you.

As a little kid, your first experiences with love begin with your parents or grandparents. Of course, you don’t have a clue why you love them, you just know you do. But how that happen? How do those feelings come up inside you when you’re not even old enough to understand them?

Well, I’ve got kind of a silly one word answer for that. Because.

Did you ever get into stupid kid arguments when you were a kid? Well, when I was kid, arguing with a brother or sister like most kids do, I was as good as anybody with those goofy kid answers to stupid kid questions. Most of the questions started with “why?” So, of course, most of the answers started with “Because.” I can think of one instance where the question was something like, “Why do you get to use those? Mom said we couldn’t.” And the answer was just, “Because I can.”

OK, back to love.

Because you can love from the earliest age means you’re born with love.

And if you’re born with love, or the ability to love, how did it get there? Through your mother’s umbilical cord? That doesn’t seem likely since love isn’t made of flesh and bones. Maybe it was through the sound of your mother’s voice and the nurturing you received in the womb. Hmm…closer. But, again, I don’t think love, the deepest emotion a human being can express, can simply be transferred through coziness.

Here’s what I’ve found to be true. Love has a starting place. And it’s transferred and transmitted through your soul and spirit. The only way that can happen is through and from the starting place. That place is the person of God.

Your creator made you with a soul/spirit full of His unending and boundless love. It’s because God loves that we can love. So, the next time you’re thinking, why love anything at all, come back to these lyrics. You can hear the song when you listen to the Rhyme and Reason Podcast .

Because I Can Love

What made You think
That I was worth the risk You took?
What made You take the time
To write Your Holy Book?
I don’t believe I’d give myself a second look,
But You did because You love.

You made a world
That was as perfect as could be,
But then I broke it
When You gave it all to me…
By going through the gate
You made to set me free.
This You did because You love…me.

Because You love me so…in spite of all You know…
Because You did the most that You could ever do…
Because I clearly see…evidence of You in me…
Because I can love…I do love…You!

You put a life
And a will inside my soul.
You knew true love
Would be to give me full control.
But knowing You is all that ever makes me whole.
I trust You because You love…me.

I can live because You live!
I can love because You love!    © 2010 TF

If you believe God is why you CAN love, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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Don’t you sometimes feel like telling certain worms (aka: anti-God people) to go liquefy themselves? I bet that’s something they’d never expect you to say. And I bet they wouldn’t become a metamorphosis butterfly. Maybe a metamorphosis wooly moth.

I was thinking about how caterpillar can become a metamorphosis butterfly.

It actually creates a cocoon and liquefies itself. Imagine that! Well, you don’t have to. Because God already did.

A creepy crawly caterpillar morphs into a beautiful butterfly. And it’s one of the weirdest and most beautiful transformations in all of creation. Plus, it’s a magnificent piece of evidence against the evolution fairytale.

Now, imagine if you could take a total jerk and stick him in a specially designed cocoon. Then, what if you could liquefy him, and wait a little while for him to solidify. And what if he came back out as a totally unselfish nice guy. Wouldn’t that be awesome?! If only changing somebody’s personality was as easy as changing a creepy crawly caterpillar into a metamorphosis butterfly. But, come to think of it, is that actually an easy process?

I mean, how does a little worm-like creature do all that?

How does it create a cocoon around itself and then liquefy itself? That certainly defies all the silly evolutionary ideas and notions. But it doesn’t defy a pre-programmed process by the one, true, living, loving God of creation. And I believe God designed processes like the metamorphosis butterfly just to show us His amazing creativity. And His attention to intricate details.

Another example of that is how a Monarch butterfly being able to navigate for 3000 miles using only its antennae and tiny, little butterfly brain. Think you could do that well with no GPS, maps app, or climate controlled car?

It might seem like a small thing to talk about caterpillars and butterflies and how they illuminate God’s glory. But it’s actually in the smallest things where that glory looms largest. Are you convinced yet? If not, send me a message or leave me a comment and tell me why. In the meantime, enjoy the lyrics to this song. Or listen to it in the podcast.

Shine In Your Glory

My love for You, Lord,
Is like a river.
Your love is like…the infinite sky.

You guide my steps
Through this worldly desert,
And I will hold your name most high.

So, I will shine in Your glory…
And I will raise my hands to the sky…
Yes, I will shine in Your glory…
And I will praise my Savior on high.

My joy is flowing out into your ocean.
Your grace rains down…in my open heart.

You take my hand
When the road is narrow,
And you’re my Light when things get dark.

So, I will shine in Your glory…
And I will raise my hands to the sky…
Yes, I will shine in Your glory…
And I will praise my Savior on high.

Shine in your glory (repeat 3 times) Lyrics © Cristina Miller 2010

Now, maybe you don’t know me well enough to buy something from me, yet. Ok, let’s change that. Get to know more about me and my worldview. Join the growing body of believers who’ve signed up for my Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. And bask in daily, delightful flashes of light from the power of God’s love.

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They, whoever they are, say that patience is a virtue. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have a lot of room for improvement in that area. How ’bout you? If so, what if I told you God is willing and can help you be patient?

Interested?

First, I bet you don’t always lett God help you be patient with all. Because you’re human. And you fail and fall. Just has all the rest of us do. So, believe me, I’m telling myself this same stuff, too. Because I need to hear it as much as anybody (and more than a lot of people).

Sure, patience is a virtue. But can too much hurt you?

Here’s a little rabbit trail sort of on that question.

Colorado legalized pot back in 2014. And I drove on Colorado highways, a lot, for 30 years. But something I noticed, after they legalized pot, was the scent of pot coming through the vents and windows of my pickup just about everywhere I drove. And it wafted through the air during walks through the neighborhoods. And that includes the so-called “nice” neighborhoods.

If you’re a dope smoker, here’s a statistic I’m sure you won’t care about. But it’s still true. When you smoke weed, your reaction time is significantly slower. Sorry to be such a killjoy, but da facts is facts.

And that means the minority of us who don’t smoke pot have to just be patient with those who do. We have to tolerate the nuisance of the smell, the slow reaction times, and every other negative thing that comes with it.

But I can’t be that patient without God’s help.

I had to deal with what I call “drifters” as I made my way across town or across the state. I’m talking about drivers who couldn’t seem to be deliberate in their actions. They’d drift into different lanes. Or they seemed to have to make up their mind about turning. And then sort of drift around the corner. And if I added up all the time I waited on those drivers to respond to the changing lights, I could possibly add a few days to my life.

That’s what I mean about me lacking patience. And about needing God’s help.

(side note: those drifters are in every state, even here in “conservative” Florida)

OK, I know there are lots of reasons people resort to smoking pot. They use excuses like pain, depression, or physical “conditions”. And they’ll say a guy like me, who never smoked pot, will never understand. On some level, I suppose that’s correct. But I DO know that inhaling smoke of any kind is not a better answer than real foods, fresh air, sunshine, and plenty of good water.

You should read about the real harm weeds does to you.

But if you’re a pothead, you probably won’t. So, I’ll just have to…

“Be patient. Be wary. Sing songs and be merry.
Then focus your attention on more than this world’s dimension”
(excerpt from the lyrics to my song, “Worldliness”)

If you’d rather get high on the power of God’s love, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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I share my rhymes and reasons based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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Yeah, you might be one of the best and brightest minds of our time. But when you trust in yourself to do the right thing, all that intelligence flies out the window.

There’s a great Proverb that says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Because the allure of this world is so powerful, you and I need supernatural help. Fortunately it’s abundantly available. Even though many would have you believe all hope is lost.

Hope is not out the window.

Nope, it springs eternal when you trust in the one true, living, loving eternal Creator of Heaven, Earth, and you. Yeah, He made you, too. So He knows what makes you tic better than the finest Swiss watch. Don’t just trust in your own limited knowledge, and become your own worst enemy in the process. Instead, admit that maybe God knows the best way for you to live your life?

The first step is to admit you have a problem.

You’ve heard that line from the 12 step program for alcoholics. And it’s true for just about anything wrong in your life. Not just drinking. So, no matter what issues you’re dealing with, admit you have a problem that you can’t overcome on your own. Then ask God for help. And get back on the path He made.

I’ve heard some Christians use that Proverb I mentioned earlier to say God is in control.

They say, “See? He shall direct your paths.”

And that’s not the meaning at all. Sure God shows you the right way to go. But He won’t MAKE you go there. Because He wants you to have freedom to choose. And that’s why He equipped you with AI.

Actual Intelligence. Don’t toss it out the window for some pagan Greek philosophy.

Intelligent design and DNA,
Scholars can’t explain it all away.
Get ready to be awed
By the handiwork of God.

If this didn’t make you wanna toss me out the window, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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I’ve talked about Nilsson, a songwriter favorite of mine, before. He was a popular singer with some very catchy songs. One of my favorite songs by him was called “Without You.” And the main line of the chorus said, “Can’t live, if living is without you.” If I tell you that the song reminds me of the building blocks of DNA, you might think I’m tetched in the head, as they used to say. But I promise I didn’t sit out in the sun, at the beach, too long.

Of course, Harry Nilsson wasn’t singing about the building blocks of DNA.

But the concept of one thing needing another thing to even live is in that song. And that’s kinda what the building blocks of DNA show us.

You’ve heard me talk about DNA (if you’ve listened to The Rhyme and Reason Podcast), or you’ve read some of the things I’ve written about it here on the blog. Right? And maybe you’ve heard me mention how proteins are the building blocks for DNA. Yes? Alright then. It’s important to talk about them both at the same time. Because DNA and proteins are each a dependent variable for the other.

And like the lyrics to an old song about love and marriage say, “you can’t have one without the other.” But they’re separate components.

So, do you realize what the means?

One couldn’t evolve without the other. One component couldn’t simply wait however long it took for the other to evolve into something useful. Because each one is too complex. It just simply couldn’t happen. But being designed in place at the same time by the most brilliant scientist in existence makes perfect sense.

I just watched a video that featured Seth Godin, a well-known author and marketing dude. And I really enjoyed this following quote. He said…

“Make things better by making better things.”

Well, you know who does that better than anybody and everybody else? You guessed ‘er Chester. God. And He designed proteins to do things like decode, store, transcribe, assemble, and protect. As a matter of fact one protein, known simply as p53, stifles cancer and protects DNA. So, how could DNA have ever survived some lengthy evolutionary process without p53 being there from the beginning? Short answer (and the only right one). It couldn’t.

There are intangible reasons why I trust Jesus to be my savior and creator. His love and goodness and righteousness immediately leap to mind. But I believe it’s important to share tangible, scientific evidence for God’s existence in this day and age. Because more and more people think science doesn’t require God. And actually quite the opposite is true.

And you’re a dependent variable whether you like it or not.

You wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the one, true, living, loving Creator. It’s scientifically, mathematically, and statistically impossible that the complexity found in your 30 trillion cells could have happened and function so well simply by chance.

And I don’t know why anyone would prefer it to be another way. Oh wait, yes I do. Because most people would rather be their own selfish god. Why serve, when you can be served? Right?

I invite and encourage you to look into the mountains and oceans of evidence for creation and the building blocks of DNA. I bet you’ll discover much more than reasons. You’ll discover love deeper and fuller than you can ever imagine. And here’s a related question for you. Why would you not want that kind of love?

And something inside you too tiny to see
Says you will be you and never be me.
It was God who designed it and made it that way.
He gave you a code, and it’s called DNA.  (From You Need)  © 2016 TF

If this at least boosted your curiosity, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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This morning I recalled when the accelerator cable on my awesome pickup, Ol’ Blue, broke. That’s the kind of stuff that’ll make you ask, in exasperation, “What in the world?!” And then, when you figure it out, you might say something like: “Oh, for cryin’ out loud!” And when these things happen, they’re not some unexplainable part of God’s plan of action for you.

Broken stuff happens because of this broken world. Not God’s plan of action.

It’s eternally important to put your faith and trust in the one true, living, loving Creator of Heaven and Earth, Because He’s willing to help you in some awesome ways. And when you read Paul’s writings, in the New Testament, you discover how important it is to know this. You also see how God didn’t decree a plan of action for your life. In fact, He’s the one who can (and will) help you through and over the mistakes YOU make.

Paul said it like this: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…”

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, their actions literally broke the world and our spiritual connection to God. After they did that, everything changed. Everything started to break down. And things have gone downhill ever since. You can actually trace everything bad in the world back to sin. But certainly not to God. Rust, mold, slime, germs, and ultimately death, all happen because we live in a broken world. And we broke it. Not God.

So, please don’t fall for “everything is part of God’s plan.”

Sure, God has an ultimate plan of action. He will ultimately bring justice back to the world He made. And He will make a new Earth and new Heaven. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt He didn’t break my accelerator cable to teach me some sort of spiritual lesson. He wrote a book to teach me those lessons and help me fix broken stuff. It’s called the Bible. I hope reading it is part of your regular action plan.

I’m broken, but God didn’t do it.
In fact, only He can get me through it.
He heals me with love on the inside,
And I’ll live forever because Jesus died…

And rose again!

If this landed somewhere good with you, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

Get my Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotionaldelivered to your inbox for free.

It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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Today, I’m gonna share a poem I wrote that has a hidden meaning. I remember writing this, way back in the 70’s. And I remember wanting it to sound serious, classic, and important.

But I can’t remember the whole hidden meaning.

Has that ever happened to you? But I actually like that I can’t remember because it means I’ve moved on. I’ve allowed those thoughts and feelings to have their place. And now that place is in the past where they should be.

So, if you think you can come up with any hidden meaning in this poem, and any reasons for it, share your thoughts with me. Here’s the quirky poem called…

For The Love Of Remandee

On a cold and windless morning
With a magical, icy mist…
There flies a raven across a ravine.
The tips of its wings are kissed by the dawning sunlight.
It carries a message to the chateau of Cheron.
The message reads…

There lies a man
In an auburn casket
Whose heart has been stilled by the cold.
His life had its shortcomings…
He wasn’t old.
Ferry him awhile lest, by chance,
He lives again.
Be kind to the poor soul.
He died bleak and penniless.
Death stole his wealthy future.
He was to be a writer
Writing stories for the world,
But it seems apathy was a spear
Aimed at his heart and hurled.
Therefore he died of hunger to be seen.
Pity poor Remandee.

So fly splendid raven,
And end your long journey.
Give Cheron the message
For the love of Remandee.  © 1974 TF

If this landed somewhere good with you, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

Get my Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotionaldelivered to your inbox for free.

It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

Daily Devotional

Stay tuned,

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