Category Archives: Rhyme and Reason

Enjoy & understand the rhyme and reason for your life with author, voice expert, and multimedia guy, Tony Funderburk.

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If you wanna get somebody to do whatever you tell them to, whenever you want them to, then fear is the key. Because somebody’s who’s afraid of you or what you might do to them is so much easier to control.

I learned how fear is the key way back in the 7th grade.

Because I was what, these days, you might call a nerd. Or a geek. Or gearhead, dork, or wonkhead. Doesn’t matter. They’re just words. And I was in what they called “accelerated” classes. Because I took some tests in grade school that said I was too brainy for the normal school lessons.

So, they put me in those classes. And “normal” kids called me those names.

Fun stuff. Good times.

Anyway…

The name calling sort of led to why I mentioned how I learned fear is the key to controlling people. Yeah, there were a couple of guys in one of my normal classes who got their jollies from bullying me. And I was the kind of guy who preferred to avoid confrontations. Because I was at school to learn. Not fight.

But none of that mattered to the bully boys. They sat behind me so they could smack me in the head if I even thought about not letting them cheat off me. One guy was a smart aleck who was basically the same size as me. But the other guy was a big dude.

They’d whisper how, if I didn’t let them see my answers to test questions, they wait for me after school, and…well, maybe you can imagine. I sure could.

So, I’d accommodate them. Most of the time. But sometimes I’d do something to get out of showing them my papers. And then I’d make sure to take a different way home after school. And that went on most of my 7th grade year.

But in the 8th grade something happened that changed my whole outlook. Be sure to ask me what that was.

I think you’ll get a kick out of the story.

Anyway, here’s another example of how fear is the key to control. Check out these climate change headlines:

  • The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it.
  • A study released last month by two NOAA scientists that the amount of sunshine reaching the ground in the continental U.S. changed by 1.3%
  • Telltale signs are everywhere…the thickness of polar ice…animal migration
  • Global temperature must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind

Can you say #Yikes?

But here’s the thing. Those headlines were all about global cooling. Yep. The Earth wasn’t getting hotter. It was getting cooler. And many goofballs predicted an ice age where the whole Earth, and most or all of the people, would freeze to death.

Unless “we do something now.”

But guess what that means. OK, no need to guess. Because I’ll tell you. It means somebody wants more money from good people who work hard and raise kids and make the world a better place. And they know fear is the key to getting you to go along.

But here’s the key to not falling for THAT key. Trust God who says “do not fear.” Plus, God promises that global warming, or cooling, or so-called climate change won’t end the world. So, here’s what I say to kids (or their owners) whenever I can:

God is great, and God is strong.
And He made all there is.
So don’t fear this fearful world.
Remember, champ, you’re His.
If He says a thing is so,
Then you can bet it’s true.
Trust His promise to us all.
And trust Him to come through. © 2015

And there’s no need to fear missing out on any issue of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. Add your email address and get lots of fun stuff delivered right to your inbox. Spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away. Fun for kids AND not too cutesy. So grownups enjoy it, too.

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So, as I write this, there’s only one more week of March winds. Because there’s only one more week of March 2025. And as much as they’ve been blowing around here in the heart of the heartland, there oughta be plenty of April showers.

What do March winds have to do with April showers?

You didn’t seriously just ask that question, did you? Because, if you did, it means you don’t know the time-tested and true poems about March winds. There used to be one we read in schools that said:

March winds bring April showers.
April showers bring May flowers.

And then that poem went on to describe the rest of the year by what happened in months and seasons.

A few years ago I wrote a few rhyming lines about what young people can do in the Springtime. But I need to warn you. These are things you shouldn’t do if March winds turn you into a dreary person. Or a person who prefers being bored, gripey, or mean. Nope, if any of those sound like you, just skip this rhyme. Because it’s gonna be stuff that’s WAY too hard for you to do.

So, don’t even read the next few lines:

Go skateboard when the sun shines…
Can’t be bored when the sun shines…
Shoot some hoops when the sun shines…
Ride some loops when the sun shines…
Hike a trail when the sun shines…
Go set sail when the sun shines…
Show your style when the sun shines…
Find your smile when the sun shines.

OK, if you DID read those lines, then you must be the kind of person who knows that life and springtime are signs that God loves you. And, in that case, I’m happy you read my rhyme. And I look forward to next time.

Your email address is the key to my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. It’s how you get lots of fun stuff delivered right to your inbox. Spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away. Fun for kids AND not too cutesy. So grownups enjoy it, too.

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There I stood. In between the guitar player’s loud amp and the drummer’s crash cymbal. That’s where my equipment had been placed on a stage in front of business executives. Things had already fallen behind a bit. So, there was no time to rearrange anything. So, that’s where I was for an hour and a half. And take my advice. If you ever get the chance to be in that position, pass it up.

Because a loud amp and crash cymbal are bad for your ears.

And I’m not sure which was worse. The piercing guitar in my right ear. Or the crash cymbal in my left. Maybe it was a tie. Anyway, I can tell you my hearing was damaged, at least a little, from that day on.

But you know what’s worse than having your ears damaged? It’s having your soul damaged by somebody trying to impress you with their fancy skills just because it makes them feel “special.” And a wise man, named Paul, wrote about what happens to anyone who tries to do that. He talked about people who had special gifts from God like being able to predict things and speak other languages.

He said, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”

Yikes. That ain’t good. And as I already showed you, a clanging (crash) cymbal can hurt your ears. So, if and when you’re like that, there’s a good chance you might be hurting more than just ears. Because someone might think you’re just trying to show off. So, they won’t even wanna listen to your noise.

Now, here’s something you gotta understand.

You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the power of God’s love. Yeah, He loved the world (which is another way of saying you and me and all the people) so much that He put Himself into a human body to be punished for all the bad stuff He did.

Wait a second! Read those last 6 words again.

NO. He wasn’t punished for all the bad stuff HE did. He let people beat Him, make fun of Him, and even put Him to death because of all the bad stuff YOU did. And all the bad stuff everybody did.

So, what He did is WAY more important than any so-called “special gifts” you and I might have. And He did it because of His love. That’s why you don’t wanna be a crash cymbal in this world. But that’s exactly what you’ll be if you go through your day without love. Because…

Without love there’s just no way out
Of all that noise in your head.
So, before you show off and shout,
Try sharing God’s love instead.

And I’d love for you to get encouraging, regular issues of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional the easy way. Just add your email address and they’ll come to you and you won’t have to look for them. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, when you do, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy.

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Maybe he’s visited you in the middle of the night. Or the wee hours of the morning before the sun even starts to wake up. I hope not. Because he’s one of the darkest, meanest, sneakiest bad guys you’ll ever meet. He’s SleepyMan.

And he loves the wee hours because that’s when his powers are mighty.

His stupor powers. Not stupid powers. I said stupor powers. And those are so much worse. Because SleepyMan can use his sleepy eyes to control your mind. And he can make everything around you look foggy and dark. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t quite seem to wake up enough to fight the fog.

There IS one way to hold him off now and then. It’s like your own secret weapon. And it’s just a very comfortable, cozy sleeping position. If you can find yours while SleepyMan is staring at you with his sleepy eyes, you can hold him off for a while.

But don’t be surprised if you feel a tug on my shoulder and wake up to see his face right in front of yours. If that happens, don’t let his evil, snarly smile scare you. And don’t listen to him if he says something like,

“Thought you could go back to your dreams and avoid me, eh?”

No, you just look at him and smile a cozy smile and say,

“No, Just thought I’d catch a few more zzz’s so I’ll be ready for the day.”

Sleepy man hates smiles. And he hates happy talk. In fact, he hates just about everything nice.

So…

If you’re talkin’ to the SleepyMan today,
And you wanna know what kind of things to say,
Then put on your loving smile for goodness sake.
Love and happiness are more than he can take.

Then, just tell him that, no matter what, today
Is another day the Lord is still your Way.
From the wee hours till you lay your head to rest
God is with you and will help you do your best.

Yeah, SleepyMan might not fly away right away. Be he won’t know what to say.

And don’t let Sleepy Man keep you from getting encouraging, regular issues of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. Especially when all it takes is your email address. Then, you can spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy.

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Hey kiddos. Repeat after me. Metamorphosis. Wow. Now, that’s a word they should change into something easier to say. Right? Hey, wait a second. Eureka! That’s it! We could use the word, change.

But metamorphosis is a drastic change.

Like what a caterpillar goes through to become a beautiful butterfly. Yeah, you just about can’t find a more drastic change than that metamorphosis.

A caterpillar actually has to liquefy itself before it can become a butterfly. Can you imagine?! I’m sure glad I never had to liquefy myself. But what if you could do that to people and make ’em better?

Like, what if you could do that to a bully? Or a potty mouth. Just stick him in a specially designed cocoon and liquefy him? And wait a little while for him to turn into a solid person again. And what if you let him back out, and he was a nice guy? Wouldn’t that be awesome?

If only it was that easy.

Well, guess what? It’s even easier than that. Or at least it can be. Wanna know how? And why? I hope so. Because I’m gonna tell ya.

Bad people can morph into better people just by making a good choice. For WAY too many people the choice is too hard to make. So, they don’t do it. And that’s so sad. Because of all the change someone went through to make it so easy to do.

I’m talking about the biggest change there ever was.

When God became a man and came to Earth to live with us. Talk about change! You and I can even understand how He could have lived forever in the past. Because we had a beginning. God didn’t. He just always existed. As a Spirit that cannot die.

But one day, a long time ago, He decided to create a couple of human beings. He made them in His image and likeness. That just means we look like Him just as any kids who look like their parents. And He created a perfect place for those human beings to live without a worry in the world. And He said the whole world was all theirs. Except for the fruit of one certain tree.

And, wouldn’t you know, they decided to eat the fruit on THAT tree.

Well, there’s a whole lotta bad stuff that happened after that. And the bad stuff is still happening. Every day. And everywhere in the world. But there’s also good news that happened because of the bad stuff.

After God became a man (the man you probably heard of named Jesus), He went through another drastic (and horrible) change. But it was the change that made sure you and I could have the best present ever. No, I don’t mean your own phone. WAY better than that. You can live forever. Because Jesus took responsibility for every bad thing every person ever did, does, or will do.

And all you gotta do to live forever is believe and trust that He did it for YOU. Then you can make a beautiful change because of His drastic change. And you can find out why God made…

Butterflies For Kids

Those butterflies they flutter by
And never make a sound.
Some soar up high into the sky…
Some just above the ground.
They land on flowers in the yard
And gently stretch their wings.
And then they fold them up again
And tend to other things.
Some little kids with little nets
Run barefoot through the yard.
They try to catch some butterflies,
But find out that it’s hard…
‘Cause butterflies fly up and down
And back and forth so well.
For kids who want to capture one
It’s like a magic spell.
They laugh and squeal in sheer delight
They nearly flip their lids.
And that’s why I’m quite sure that God
Made butterflies for kids.

Your email address is all it takes to get encouraging, regular issues of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. It comes directly to your inbox so you spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy.

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She just wanted to grab a few things at the grocery store. But after she paid for the groceries, she went out the store’s front door and was hit in the face with a gust of wind filled with snow. The ground was already covered with about four inches of the white powder. That meant the canyon road home was too.

Thankfully, it was only a short drive on the canyon road.

But when it was snowy, it could get mighty slick and dangerous. And even though she knew better, she made her way to her car and slid into the driver’s seat. The little Kia Soul started right up, as always, and she put the defogger on full blast. After just a couple of minutes she was ready to go.

So, she pulled out of the grocery store parking lot and eased on to the snowy, slick road. Her hands squeezed the steering wheel so tightly it almost looked as though no blood ran through her fingers.

Then, she whispered a quick prayer,

“God, please don’t let me slide off into the ditch or the creek. Please help me make it home.”

She could barely see even 10 feet in front of the headlights. And they got dimmer, from layers of freezing snow sticking to them. A few times the tires lost grip and slid a little bit. And the young woman’s whole body would jerk as she gasped and panicked a little. But she kept gently easing the car forward, careful to look for the white and yellow lines in the road. But she could only see them here and there.

This drive, on the short canyon road, which would normally be about five to seven minutes, took half an hour. She felt like kicking herself for not letting her family know what time she left the store. Because, through the canyon she didn’t have any phone signal.

But she finally reached the main road that would get her home. So, she figured she’d made it through the worst. Wrong.

Wouldn’t you know?

Even though the main road was well-lit, it was also covered in about 4 or 5 inches of snow. And it felt even slicker than the other road. Plus, now she had to deal with multiple other “crazies” who didn’t seem slow down for the conditions at all. But she didn’t care if they didn’t like it, she slowed WAY down.

As she slogged along at only about 20 miles an hour, other cars whizzed by and splashed magnesium chloride slush all over her windshield. But she was determined. And she vowed to make it home to her loved ones. No matter what.

And she did.

But it wasn’t because she wasn’t afraid. It was because she decided to not give into the fear. Yes, fear IS an option. So, you CAN choose to fear. Or you can choose to do what God says to do.

Fear not.

Maybe you’ve got to deal with a blizzard in your life today. We’ve got a real one blasting through our city today. And that’s after almost 80 degrees yesterday. And maybe your challenge is something else. No matter what you’re up against, Fear Not is your best option. Or if fear hits you, out of the blue, at least don’t give in to it.

Choose to hold onto the promise God gave you: the “spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind“.

That won’t magically make the “blizzard” go away.

But it WILL give you the courage and strength to keep driving toward home.

The keys are in your hand. It’s up to you.
Take the wheel and conquer that canyon road.
You’re never all alone in what you do.
Let God’s word relieve your heavy load.

By the way, I send encouraging, regular issues of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional to my subscribers. It comes directly to your inbox so you spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy.

Daily Devotional

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So, I reached the end of the comic book, but I kept reading. Because in the back of the magazine was a way to get a sea monkeys kit. And what blonde-haired, blue-eyed American boy wouldn’t want one of those?

What?! You think there’s no such thing as a sea monkeys kit?

Well, it was advertised right there in a real life comic book. So, what more proof do you need. Or, if you didn’t want the sea monkeys kit, you could always get the secret to turn a 90-pound weakling into a real He-Man. And they couldn’t advertise all that if it wasn’t true.

Yeah, that’s all a bunch of silliness. The sea monkey kit just had some freeze-dried tiny shrimp that sort of came to life when you added water. And the “secret” to turn a 90-pound weakling into a real He-Man was the same as it always is. Work out. Eat sensibly. And stay as healthy as you can.

Plus, remember, those silly ads were (and are) in comic books where imagination is center of it all.

But there was once a guy named Ernst who drew some goofy drawings of human babies with gills. And he told some fibs about how humans go through phases, in mom’s womb, that resemble stages of evolution. What a knucklehead. You were made in the image and likeness of God. And He gave you imagination.

So, maybe you could use imagination to pretend you CAN breathe underwater. Then you could take an imaginary trip through the deep, blue sea. And you don’t have to hold your breath. And you don’t have to be like a fish. Let fish breathe their way. And you breathe your way. Just be you and enjoy the journey.

Here’s a rhyme to get little minds of mush  (kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc,) started off in the right direction when it comes to imagination like that.

Swim With Fish

I want you to come with me
Down in the deep, blue sea
Where a sea horse grins and spins its fins
And says we can swim for free.
We won’t have to stop for air
The whole time we’re under there.
We can swim with fish if we make a wish.
It’s a make-believe we’ll share.
So tell me, what do you say?
Would you like to go today?
We can tell our tales, how we swam with whales
And then we went our merry way.  © 2020

You don’t have to believe in sea monkeys to get encouraging, regular issues of my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. It comes directly to your inbox so you spend your valuable time reading instead of searching. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to 2 of my Christian books for kids and 2 songs, right away, that grownups AND kids can enjoy.

Daily Devotional

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