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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Most of my summers in Kansas, in my teen years from 13 to almost 18, were spent hauling hay. Literally from first thing in the morning, often until midnight. Yeah, I was in hot Kansas fields bucking bales up on to hay trucks.

Now, keep in mind, I was basically a city boy all during the nine months of school. It wasn’t like I was working on a farm year ’round and staying in shape for that kind of work. Quite the opposite. During the school year I worked on physically challenging chores like vocal practice for choir. Or helping to decide which band to book for the prom. Maybe I’d have to actually help move sets around for the play I was in. You know, tough stuff. Not for the faint of heart. So…

Summer in Kansas can get mighty hot.

So, “let us not grow weary” had a special meaning for me.

I remember one particularly hot day, in a field of about 1200 bales of alfalfa. That’s where I said a prayer under my breath. “Lord, help me not to tire out in front of these country boys.” Because the guys I worked with were mostly all from Kansas farms where they lived year ’round. They were used to the work. I’m sure it was still hard work for them too, especially as I think back on it now. But they moved bales of hay around even during the winter to feed the livestock. Most of them weren’t choir boys, or drama class actors, or senior class officers. Just hard workin’ Kansas boys.

OK, back to that alfalfa field.

If you’ve never been around bales of alfalfa hay, just know, they’re way scruffy. They can wear out the fronts of brand new heavy-duty jeans in a matter of days. And they’ll scratch your forearms till they look like you had a run-in with a cat.

Now, imagine riding a hay truck (with no air conditioning) up to the gate of a field of 1200 of those demon bales. And imagine doing that on a 100 degree day with no shade trees. And imagine working for a beer-guzzling wild man who often forgot to bring water for the crews.

Well, that’s where I was that day when I whispered that prayer under my breath. And guess what?! God, as He always does, answered my prayer. He gave me strength, stamina, courage, and determination. Day after day. Week after week. And summer after summer.

With God, all things are possible.

It was many years later I discovered I was born with a deformed heart. Good thing I didn’t know that when I was a teenager, or I might have skipped the prayer for strength. Because I probably wouldn’t have done a job like hay hauling. And I might not have believed God could get me through those long, hot days with a less than perfect heart. Odd how that works, isn’t it.

That’s why it’s important to remember to lean on the Lord for your strength. Not yourself. And don’t grow weary while doing good. Because the world is full of evil people who’d love to see you give up. Even if you never haul hay all summer in Kansas. Yeah, remember this wherever you are…

If you faint or fall, don’t give up.
For the source of strength, just look up.
When you let Him, God helps you up.
Don’t give up, just look up, and stay up.

Stay cool today. And if you realize what’s possible now, 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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One time, back in my full-time musician days, as my band set up to play for an evening crowd in Denver, I made a good, clean humor pun about something. I don”t even remember what it was. But a guy, who helped set up the gear said, “Ooh, a pun! Those are the lowest form of humor.”

I immediately replied, “I suppose if you leave out dirty words and vulgar jokes about women, different races or ethnic groups, body parts, and bathroom humor…maybe you have a point.”

He didn’t have a witty comeback.

And I wondered how clean puns and good humor could ever be considered “low.”

The dictionary describes wholesome like this: conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being: the food is plentiful and very wholesome. OR conducive to or promoting moral well-being: good wholesome fun.

So, what’s wrong with a preference for wholesome words over profanity and vulgarity?

The short answer is “Nothing”.

Think about it. There are grocery store chains based on wholesome foods. And most everybody would agree it’s better to have wholesome good health and physical well-being. But people get in battle mode mighty fast when it comes to requests or suggestions for good, clean humor. Weird.

Why do you suppose most people don’t mind being told what foods are good but hate being told what words and ideas are good? It’s difficult to even get a consensus on what “good” is anymore. These days, it’s whatever is right in your own mind. Trouble with that is a lot of people have a lot of dastardly things in their own minds.

You can’t go wrong with wholesome words.

Here’s something you can take and/or try with a grain of Celtic sea salt. Look up a word (or two or three) that you don’t know the meaning to. And discover what they mean and where they originated.

Then, see what kind of ideas pop into your head. Because it’s almost guaranteed that ideas WILL pop into your head. And if something less wholesome pops up for some reason today, focus more on your new ideas. When you do this on a regular basis, watch out. Because you might become an idea person.

And the better your ideas the easier is to rise above the dirty jokes and curse words. In fact, don’t be surprised to find you no longer need them at all. Because ideas power up your potential. It’s logical. Because your brain runs on the power of God’s love.

Try it today. What have you got to lose, besides bad taste?

Here are some words I shared, a few years back, to get kids interested in ideas and writing…

Open Your Head

Open your head.
Pour words right in.
Then shake your head
And let ’em spin.
They’ll bubble up
Like polka dots
Into some bright
And bouncing thoughts.
Just let them float,
And let them grow.
When they’re just right,
You’ll let them go
Live on a page
Where they’ll be read
And poured into
Another head.    © 2013 TF

If you enjoy a good pun (or even not so good), 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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If there is no God, then the sum total of all life on Earth is basically meaningless. It will come to no good end. And even if it did, how would anyone know it was a “good” end? What difference would one person’s opinion be from another? Who would determine good versus bad?

Here’s something I wrote about life on Earth over 15 years ago.

And I believe this will remain true:

“But we are not the sum total of our dollars, beauty, or “stuff.” We’re not the sum total of our monikers we wear through this life. We’re not the sum total of the varied opinions about us. Those don’t make us. And they shouldn’t break us. Here’s what I recommend…

  • Work to produce…not for the money.
  • Play to relax…not to escape.
  • Laugh to enjoy…not to cover up.
  • Love to give…not to acquire.
  • And live to be thankful…not to compare.

You are the sum total of where you position yourself for eternity.”

And all life on Earth still doesn’t amount to much without love.

The Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthian believers a lesson about life without love (spoiler alert: it wasn’t good).

If you dare to care, then share love.
Day and night it’s right to share love.
You were given a heart that could love from the start.
So right now, somehow, go share love.

If you love this message (or at least like it), 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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Just about everywhere you look or go people seem to be mad about something. And a lot of them don’t seem to have any problem letting that anger, inside, out for everyone to see.

But when the anger inside comes out, so does the ugliness of sin.

People are walking around with chips on their shoulders. That’s what we used to call it anyway. Or you could say they’re carrying grudges in their hearts. And that would be bad enough. But at least it would be invisible to just about everyone. Trouble is, they don’t stop the anger inside from coming out. And a lot of it even leads to escalated physical harm.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret about the root cause. Selfishness.

Yeah, selfishness is at the heart of almost all anger issues. It’s difficult to manage your anger, when all you care about is how he or she or the whole world wronged you.

And you find a way to justify your own anger, when you don’t take responsibility for your actions. I’ve been dealing with this with someone I’ve known for a very, very long time. He believes I’ve wronged him in the past (issues from 20 years ago and beyond). And he has told me I’ve never apologized or shown any remorse.

I’m not gonna share the whole sob story. But I can say with a clear conscience that this person has ripped me off multiple times, left me in the lurch multiple times, and F-bombed Jesus in my house. And, to this day, he’s never once apologized or shown any remorse for his actions. Some say this is narcissism. And I don’t disagree.

But again, the root cause is selfishness. And rebellion against God.

The person I’m talking about doesn’t care what God says about anger. But, to quote from Paul’s writing in Ephesians, “be angry and do not sin.” And when Paul wrote that, he was actually quoting from one of King David’s Psalms where it said, “Be angry, and do not sin, Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.”

But people obsess over problems, challenges, and obstacles in everyday life. That makes it easy to form a tunnel vision where the tunnel always leads to SELF.

And that leads to projecting those problems onto others. And that leads to self harm. Physical, mental, and emotional harm. You might not realize the full negative consequences of letting the anger inside out while you’re young and strong. But they’ll show up eventually. And the older you are, the more harmful the consequences.

There are even studies that say anger encourages cancer.

I’m not saying those studies are absolutely true. But it might be more than coincidence that the rising rate of cancer in the world happens at the same time there are more angry people than ever.

So, what about you? What rules in your life? Anger? Or joy? I wrote this rhyme about it years ago…

If you’re angry, just don’t sin.
Open up your heart and let God in.
He can help you work it out.
And He’ll show you what it’s all about.
Life is better, when you trust
The One who is Holy, right, and just.
Give it up, and I know…
You’ll be glad where God will help you go.

If this didn’t make you mad, 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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I remember, as a young boy, I wished my own dad would give me grace for some things I did. And when he didn’t, I knew there was gonna be a high price to pay. And my own fanny would pay it. Because his rules were written in stone.

My dad was human. He made mistakes, as we all do.

I admit there were times I deserved punishment and certainly got it. But there were other times when dad would have done well to follow the word of God and show me grace and mercy. Especially if he used those times as a springboard of opportunity to share God’s word with me. But dad was human. And even if he had shown me grace, it wouldn’t have been enough to last forever. Only God’s grace can last forever.

By the way, God doesn’t have to give you grace. It wasn’t written in stone before the foundation of the world. And not on some hermetically God-sealed papyrus in an impenetrable safe where even He couldn’t change it.

And that’s part of what makes His grace so wonderful. He didn’t have to make it available. And yet He did. In fact, He sacrificed more than you and I will ever be able to imagine in order to provide grace to anyone who wants it.

Jesus took us from laws written in stone to grace written in His blood.

And, because He’s eternal, His grace is enough for the whole world.

Through the course of about 4000 years God watched His human creation mess up the world. Yeah, we did it over and over again. He made ways to patch things up and show us how much we need Him. But we just had to be our own kings and queens.

So, we make up our own laws. And we sorta try to keep those laws. Even though Jesus paid the ultimate price to free us from the burden of keeping laws that kill. Such sad and tragic irony.

That’s why the Grace found in the Christian life is so awesome.

God’s grace is enough to cover all the bad stuff you’ve ever done, are doing now, or will ever do. But there IS a catch. It’s not an automatic thing. His grace is available. But you gotta ask. It’s free, too. But you gotta ask. It will carry you through eternity and give you the forever life you can’t even imagine.

But you gotta ask.

So, if you haven’t already, put this at the top of your to-do list. Ask God to keep you alive forever. His Grace is enough to make it happen for you.

Gimme grace to last my lifetime…
Yes, the life that is with You.
I’m so thankful that you love me
And for what Your Grace can do.

If you also love the gift of grace, 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. Join the growing group of people who already enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to this form and let’s get going.

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Leaving college was the first good decision I made that year. Because, even way back then (in the early part of the fourth quarter of the 20th century) they laced most of the classes with anti God ideology. And my Christian background made me stubborn enough to change course and resist the subtle indoctrination.

I didn’t know it right then, but music would change the course of my life.

No, I didn’t change course right after I left college. In fact, it wasn’t until a few years later, and a wide variety of jobs, that I started to go for a career in music. And that was after it kinda pursued me first.

My brother and I sang songs around the pool of an apartment complex where we lived. We did that in the evenings after hammering nails all day. And I can honestly say we built quite a loyal and substantial following.

Next thing we knew (remember, this is the condensed version of the story) we auditioned at lots of local live music spots in Houston, Texas. Yeah, we worked as carpenters during the day and sang wherever we could each evening and weekend.

Eventually we landed a regular “gig” as the featured happy hour entertainment in a very popular local nightclub. It was regular music work, three hours each evening every Monday through Friday. And we got to see, and get to know, the late night bands on the weekends. Before long other local spots started sending managers and reps to see us. No more auditions. And that’s when we started getting the juicier, more coveted gigs. You might say we had “made it” in the local scene. Traveling the country was next.

Fortunately I grew out of all the pop-star-glory-eyed nonsense.

And one day, after years in the music business, I decided to change course again. Because I no longer liked most of the typical venues I’d been part of for so long. And a secular musical career held no appeal to me anymore. Something else became way more important to me.

Eternity.

In fact, it seemed much closer to me than ever before (probably because it was…and is). So I figured I’d better put more focus on what it was all about.

That’s when a different kind of glory started to guide my words and music.

Yeah, the power of words and music still burns as bright as ever in me. But now I know how much more important it is to use whatever abilities I have with words and music to tell others about who gave them to me.

And if the story I share about Jesus being the only way to eternal life is false, then I’m one of the biggest fools who ever lived. Because that would mean I invested a lot of my life to perpetuate a lie. And it would mean I also wasted hours, days, weeks, and years writing and singing about that lie.

But it’s not a lie.

The mountains and mountains of evidence boldly and clearly point to a Creator who made the whole universe just by speaking it into existence. And He made sure I could change course from death to eternal life. I hope you have that hope. Tragically, most people don’t. Even though it’s readily available.

Since there is a Creator of all life, there is hope.
And if not, there would be only doom and gloom.
But I know my Creator’s promises give me hope.
And they started when He made me in the womb.

If this tweaked your interest about how to change course, 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 starting today.

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Let’s talk about light and wonder about how it works. Imagine, for a second, that you ARE light. And everyone else is darkness. Nobody likes it when you enter the room, and they run for cover as fast as they can. They can’t wait for you to leave so they can get back to what they were doing in the comfort of their so-called “privacy.” You’re just not welcome in their world because you expose everything they don’t want to show. It doesn’t matter that you just wanna make it easy for them to see. All they know is you’re the reason they can’t secretly do anything they want.

Light shines and no wonder darkness disappears.

The Light of Life is Jesus. He’s the one I just described. He came into this dark world as a light to shine the way to eternal life. And the religious leaders of the day, as well as the secular rulers, were deeply offended by His teachings and claims. Their beliefs and traditions were darkness compared to His light, and they hated Him for exposing their hypocrisy to the people. That’s what Truth and Light do…expose lies and make darkness disappear.

When you choose to trust and follow Jesus, you’re supposed to become an extension of His light and wonder. And, in fact, you’re called to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” Salt causes thirst. Are you the kind of salt that makes people thirst for Truth? Light is necessary for life. Are you the kind of light that shines the way to eternal life?

When you share your salt and light, you will offend a lot of people. I’ve certainly offended my share. But you might also help save some. And the few who are saved are more than worth the many who run for cover when your light shines in the darkness.

Be the light shining bright in a dark, dark world.
And be salt that brings on a biting thirst.
When you shine, really shine, darkness disappears.
You can do what your Creator did first.

If this made a light go on inside you, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

Get Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotionaldelivered to your inbox for free.

It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, 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

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