Tony Funderburk Archives - Tony Funderburk

Hypnopompic hallucinations. No, there are no drugs involved. You might have experienced them, even if you’ve never heard of ’em. Because they can occur in that transitional time between sleep and fully waking up. And they don’t have to include scenes of terror. After all, it’s not like everything in life mimics Stephen King books. My hypnopompic hallucinations almost always...

Some positive words for the day I shared a few sections of positive words for the day on another website I used to have. And this is something from around 15 years ago. And it still applies. But read to the end. Because there’s a caveat to all this positivity.   Seven points of positive words you can bank on 1. Smile “Are you kidding me?! Did he just say smile?” Yeah. I did. When...

Don’t give it all you got Cue up the Rocky theme music. Zoom the camera in on Rocky running through the backstreets of Philadelphia. Build up the music as he runs up those stairs. Feel the excitement as he reaches the top and dances with his fists in the air. Rocky gave it his all and overcame the obstacles. Yay! Scene fades. Point made. You don’t have to look far to find a motivationa...

Life as we know it will never be the same. But who is “we?” And in what way do we know life? Those are important questions because they expose perspectives. If you’re someone old enough to remember back to the 50’s and even 60’s, you might remember life as we know it being a lot simpler and a whole lot less mean. But if you’ve grown up during the past two or thr...

Music makes me happy. How ’bout you? Like the picture says, I promise this ain’t gonna be sappy. But it’s true. Music makes me happy. I don’t mean it forces me to be happy. And I don’t mean ALL music. Some music, of course, is written from a sad or troubled heart and it can take you there, too. But even hearing that kind of music and sharing the emotions it elicits en...

You were born with a very special gift. You may not be the only person in the world with your gift. But nobody can use your gift the exact same way you can. Know why? Because you’re one-of-a-kind. God didn’t make any more you. You’re the only you there is. And you can use your very special gift to help others use theirs. Wanna know how? Keep reading. There’s a place in the...

Doesn’t it feel nice to eat a good, tasty dinner and finish it off with a yummy dessert? You feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You’re full and completely happy. Then something happens, and before you know it, you’re hungry again. Then you have to do it all over again. Day after day. Week after week. Year after year. Your whole life. No matter how often you eat a good meal, you get...

Did anybody ever tell you a secret and ask you not to tell anybody else? That’s how a secret is supposed to work. But, the trouble is, it seems like nobody can keep a secret. So, before you know it, lots of people know about it. Then it’s not such a secret anymore. Would you like to hear the best secret ever? Good. Here goes… About 2000 years ago there was a man named Paul. He wa...

Do you ever play with building blocks? It’s fun. You can stack ‘em up and make a house, or a fort, or a skyscraper. Some blocks even have letters and colors on them so you can make words and pictures. Did you know grownups play with building blocks, too? It’s true. The blocks they use are a lot bigger. And there’s always one block they call the cornerstone. It’s the block a...

Isn’t it nice when you can be calm and enjoy some peace and quiet? Sometimes you just wanna be still and think. And that’s hard to do when people are mad at each other. It seems like the world is like that a lot, doesn’t it. So many people mad and yelling and treating each other badly. There just doesn’t seem to be any peace in this ol’ world. Do you think there&#8217...

The old Christian hymns often said things so much more wisely and profoundly than the “praise and worship” music that permeates many churches today. They weren’t so repetitive and chant-like. They told stories and conveyed such faith in a relationship with the one true living, loving God. I’m sharing one of those old standards here again. It uses what’s often referred...

Many times, in sports, you’ll hear an announcer say something like, “Man, he really gave his all.” Or you might hear “Wow, she gave all she had to get to this event.” Well, think about it for a second…is there anything in life you truly give your all to? There’s a place in the New Testament where you can find what you need to do in order to truly live. You...

Why is there so much violence, destruction, and death in the world? And relatively so little joy and peace? Well, I could tell you I know the reason why, but maybe you wouldn’t believe the answer could be so simple. Maybe you’d rather have a highly complicated solution to this complex mess we earthlings find ourselves having to endure. And maybe you wouldn’t even like my answer....

Words music pictures…if ever there was a more perfectly matched trio, I certainly don’t know what it would be. I’m no photographer (although I did have a job as a portrait photographer for a short while), but I’ve always been a photo enthusiast. I love to see if I can capture the “feeling” of a moment in a picture. And I wonder if most professional photographers...

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say (usually a parent) something like…”You sure don’t have to teach a kid how to be bad”. Yeah, the do seem to come by it naturally. But I’m not talking about being “bad” today. I’m gonna share with you how to be cruel in 3 easy steps. Ready? Step 1. OK, get ready for this rude awakening beca...