Rhyme and Reason with Tony Funderburk

Here’s a tough one, even for Christians. God is not currently in charge of this world. And again, Jesus tells us that. Three times! He WILL rule this world one day. But He currently does NOT rule. And the evidence should be as clear as the daily news. I know you literally hear, in just about every Christian circle, that you need to “trust God’s plan.” Or that you just might not understand wh...

It’s mostly just social media noise. And not actual conversation. Oh sure, I suppose if you grew up in a home where everyone yelled at each other at the same time, and called it conversation, social media seems just fine with you. But for those who prefer meaningful dialogue, it’s just social media noise. And I know that even the best communication can get noisy sometimes. But it shoul...

It was fifteen years ago, next month, that some friends of mine attempted to put together and display the largest protest sign ever. The event took place in Golden, Colorado (near Denver) to send a message to the Democratic National Convention held in that city. And, according to the Guinness Book of World Records TM they succeeded. According to American Right to Life, an abortion abolition organi...

Time travel is real. Before I explain that assertion, I’ll say this. And I’ve said it before, and maybe I’ll say it again sometime. I’ve enjoyed a wide variety of time-travel themed movies and other shows. Because it’s fun to imagine all the what-ifs. But all the what-ifs in the universe won’t make back and forth time travel a reality. So, how can I say that AND say time tr...

Update: The CD version of Do Right is currently unavailable. But you can still get the digital download at this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=ZX3MBTG37Q9WA Do you know a kid with a vivid imagination? That’s kind of a loaded question. Because basically ALL kids have a vivid imagination. I know I sure did when I was a kid. Yeah, my world of make...

Most every young person has them. Well, I say that as someone who was once a young person who had them. But when I was a young person, the world didn’t seem nearly as hopeless. So, it wasn’t difficult to picture my future dreams. And what I would do to help make them come true. But young people might be afraid to think about future dreams now. Because they have to deal with the daily o...

With all the randomness in the universe, and our cute, little solar system, it’s a wonder that we can predict the moon phases with such accuracy. But we’re so good at it (and by “we” I mean earthlings) that we name the phases. And we know when they’re gonna happen. And we even know the best places to view them. Nothing short of miraculous. Because moon phases shouldn&...

Poodle skirts. Roller skates. Hula hoops. What do they have in common? They were each the latest craze, at some point, back in the 1950’s. Then, you had The Twist, The Pony, and even the Monster Mash. Those were the “in” moves at some point in the 1960’s. Right now there’s the Distraction Dance. And it’s all the rage in political, social media, and video circles...

Imagination can be an awesome and powerful force. But it can be used for good OR evil. So, it can also be a hypocritical and destructive force. You can imagine yourself flying, on your own power, over the clouds and even through the ocean. And you can imagine no possessions in a world where everyone shares everything. And you can imagine you’re more virtuous than the next person because you...

I know you’ve been there done this. Try to sit still and feign interest while the person across from you seems to ramble on and on into the apocalyptic future. And you wonder if you locked the door at home. An image of somebody probably just popped into your mind. Right? Better not be an image of me. I’ll hunt you down and read modernist masterpieces of poetry till your ears bleed. And...

I don’t know why it is. But fat, old guys seem to be the typical Harley riders. And before you look for the page turn or delete button, I’m not gonna ramble on about fat, old guys on motorcycles. I’m sure you’ve seen your share. And you’d probably like to talk about almost anything else. So, good. How about fat, old guys walkin’ down the street? And even worse t...

Well, you can call me Tony Splendorburk. Because I meet the criteria for that title. And it took me a long time to earn it. So I’m gonna own it. That means this post is gonna contain a lot of me me me talk. But it’s really not about me. Really. First, a little back story. I’ve already lived over six decades. And I’ve got the silver/gray hair and the extra lines in my face to prove it....

Alabama is one of those states in the so-called Bible Belt. So, it might surprise you to hear that even in small towns, in Alabama, police have to deal with perverts. Yeah, even in public shopping areas. In broad daylight (is there a such thing as narrow daylight?) Small towns, in America, are no longer much different from big cities. For example, check out what police said in this headline from o...

What do these words have in common: abstruse, Delphic, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable, oracular, paradoxical, recondite, and unfathomable. According to the dictionary, they’re all synonyms of enigmatic. Sounds like I’m about to give a language lesson. But I’m not. This is about music’s mystery. Enigmatic sounds might not be your cup of tea. And, if you think...

You have a right to defend your livelihood. And this will come as a surprise to way too many people these days. But your right to do that doesn’t come from the government or the constitution. Nope. Rights don’t come from people. And just because some guy named “Bill” mentioned rights doesn’t change that fact. Nope. Rights come from God. So, you have the right to defen...

Back in the day a rainbow was a rainbow. And, for a relatively small group of people, it also represented a promise from God; that He would never flood the earth again. I consider His promise to be proof of contemplation and action. Because I believe God contemplates His actions toward us based on ours toward (or away from) Him. So it goes. In that order. Contemplation and action. And I believe th...

19000 days. Yes, that’s nineteen thousand days. And that’s a lotta days. But I didn’t just pick a number off the top of my head. No, it’s the approximate number of days I’ve written poetry. Some might say that’s a huge waste of a large number of days. To those I say, “Ouch. You hurt both my feelings.” So, the number of days also closely represents th...

I’ve talked about it before. But something popped up, online, this morning, that brought back a good and sad memory. And it’s about sticks. But not just any kind. I’m talkin’ about Pick Up Sticks. A game that used to be popular with kids before technology took the soul out of games. Anyway… Back to the memory. My brother and I used to ride the Santa Fe Big Chief twice...

Tucson, Arizona. Central New Mexico. Music. Moonlight. Dan Fogelberg. Storytelling. All parts of “the road” from a long time ago. And, early this morning, I thought about an incredible, singular experience I had during a full moon drive. Strangely enough, it was a motion-sensor light that triggered that full moon memory. Huh? A motion-sensor light and a full moon drive? Yeah, I got out of bed and...

Love, peace, and music. I wish those for you. And now, let’s get down to business. No, I’m not smokin’ any halo tobacco. It doesn’t take a dope-smokin’, long-haired, hippy freak to talk about the finer parts of life. And, while we’re on the subject, that leads me into some of the benefits of Christian music. First, there’s no cursing. Second, there’s...

Neil Patel, a marketing guy who shares a lot of how-to videos, has a website to help you with keywords and keyphrases for your content. Those are important if you want your website to be found and pull in traffic. So, with his keyword tool, you can type in a couple of words and get a bunch of questions being asked online. I typed in “Christian music,” and many of the questions asked &#...

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That’s a good line. Even though it does come from a former U.S. president who was so wrong on so many things. But back in that time in American history, even FDR understood that fear creates the wrong kind of defensive positions. Fearful defensive positions lead to lights under baskets. Yes, that’s a thinly-veiled reference to a Bi...

Today, I found out, once again, how fragile the hearts and minds of most people are. And it happened with some censored words. And, just in case you think Elon Musk is one of the good guys because he allowed people on Twitter to speak a little more friendly, he’s not. Or at the very least, his algorithms on Twitter would make it seem that way. But I hold people responsible. Algorithms only b...

How much grass have you eaten lately. NO, I didn’t ask how much you smoked, you knucklehead. And I’m not an advocate of grazing out in your yard. But I bring it up because there are apparently some chlorophyll benefits to eating grass. Well, to eating greens, that is. And when I mention chlorophyll, I mean that green pigment, present in all green plants and in cyanobacteria. The stuff...

It’s an event where business owners and entrepreneurs go to “spot trends, build partnerships, or secure brand rights for your products.” It’s the Licensing Expo. And it was held in Las Vegas this year. A 60 year old woman, you might have heard of, was there. For a long time she’s been one of those so-called “beautiful people.” But it turns out, she’s...