Rhyme and Reason Tony Funderburk

I don’t fly the unfriendly skies anymore. Because I don’t wanna be stuck in an unsanitary tube, soaring through the air at 35000 feet up, with a passenger list that includes people who hate each other and God.

But, hey, that’s probably just me.

Anyway…

Here’s why I bring up my aversion to airline travel (the same is true for just about any mass transit).

Whatever happens in this world is temporary. When you know you’re gonna live forever with the one, true, living, loving Creator of heaven and earth, you should be able to trust Him and be of good cheer. One day you’ll leave this world full of hardships and filthiness and live forever in a real paradise. And it won’t be some Hollywood, make-believe, physics-defying world of mystical magic. It’ll be a real place with real human beings and real surroundings.

And most importantly, the real God.

Wait. You ARE going. Right?

Please tell me your name is already on the passenger list?

Because your ticket has already been paid for and all you gotta do is sign your name, so to speak. Yeah, you definitely need to confirm you wanna make the trip. And all it takes is humility. If you wanna know more about it, I’ll be glad to share whatever I can to help. Because I’d sure like to see you, one day, in that…

Real Paradise

I don’t believe

In magic…hocus pocus.

I do believe

My treasure’s where I focus.

Jesus, Redeemer, Creator of Heaven

Tells every dear Christian who dies…

We will be with him forever and ever.

Now I call that real paradise.

You can receive

A blessing you can’t pay for.

What would you waste

Another single day for?

Jesus, the Savior, and Great Overcomer

Will love you and open your eyes.

There is no sin that His blood will not cover.

Now, I call that real paradise.

Instrumental…

I love the way His promise won’t forsake me.

And there’s no end to where His Grace will take me.

Jesus, the Lamb, without spot without blemish,

The Truth who the world still denies.

The world is against me, but Jesus is for me.

Now I call that real paradise.

© 2001-2009

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This dreadful message is dark. Too dark for the front page news and prime time. So, you won’t see or hear it unless you tune into channels where people share the truth even when it’s unpopular. I’ve shared that kind of truth for decades. And I haven’t enjoyed even one day of it. Not even before I lost most of my “friends” because I dared to speak up this way.

Thankfully, these days, I can create my own front page news.

Of course, my humble publication is far from a worldwide phenomenon. But it CAN be seen and heard worldwide. At least for now. And I can see, with the help of analytics software, that my posts and podcast episodes are seen and heard by a lot of people in parts of the world I’ll never visit.

And here’s the reason I bring it up. Because, after almost 60 years, there’s still a killing spree going on right here in America (and around the world), and the vast majority of human beings couldn’t care less.

If someone took a so-called “assault weapon” into crowded areas and killed over 1000 people a day, don’t you think they’d be front page news? They’d be top story on every TV “news” channel. And their face would be plastered on every media around the world. Especially if the “news” organization could spin the story into some sort of white and right wing connection.

Of course, if someone could kill that many innocent bystanders, their evil face SHOULD be known to all.

But that sort of killing spree DOES take place every day here in America.

And only “right-wing extremists” like me seem to be willing to tell the story.

But I gotta tell you something about me. I Hate, with a capital H, to tell this story. Because it exposes the awful truth about my country. And I love America. But America has gone the way of every other powerful nation or empire in history. We’re no longer the bright, beacon of hope to a wayward world.

I wrote a song about this back in 2002. It’s not an upbeat song. It’s not an anthem. And it’s not a song that’ll ever get any “airplay” or streaming time. But I wanted to write a song about this dark side of our culture in a way that maybe gave the story some humanity. You can let me know if you think it does that.

Side note: the song mentions 40 years. Sadly, another 20 years has been added. Wouldn’t it be awesome to wake up to this front page news, tomorrow? “Legalized Abortion Abolished”

Killin’ Spree

Way down along the river,

Beneath a willow tree,

An awful sight in the damp twilight,

They found the boy named Lee.

His mother can’t believe it.

His father can’t be found.

There’s his battered face, and his dying place

On that muddy Georgia ground.

Been forty years in this killin’ spree…

It’ll lead to ruin…the undoin’ of you and me.

If it weren’t for Jesus, Grace, and Mercy,

We’d all be found guilty…in this killin’ spree!

Inside a broken promise

There lives a shattered dream.

A young girl stands with cradled hands.

Her tears become a stream.

With no one there beside her

She walks in through the door.

She cannot smile or reconcile

Why her heart can feel no more.

chorus

Where we gonna go?

What we gonna do?

And who can we depend on?

Can you tell me who?

Random thoughts and deeds…

And random source of life…

Random is the bride we take

Who becomes a cheating wife.

© 2002

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Before I get into what a mess you are, let me first say Happy Super Tuesday. I have no clue what that means. But apparently there’s some holiday being celebrated, and that’s what they call it. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. You’re a mess. I know you are. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. And I know it because it’s a human condition. Bad choices. And a strong tendency toward selfishness. Trouble is, there’s no cure for it. Because, as a whole, humans don’t learn from their mistakes. We don’t know our history. So, we’re probably doomed to repeat it.

So, here are 3 ways I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

1. Truth: Control freaks cast shadows on the truth. Truth is their mortal enemy. So they have to pound out lies, with consistent resolve, until the truth becomes nothing more than a cloudy concept. Truth becomes “whatever you make of it.” Or whatever is “right in their own minds.” Nazis believed all you need to do to twist a lie into the truth is tell one that’s “big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually become to believe it.” Of course, that happens all around you, everywhere, every day. All you gotta do is pay attention.

2. Morality: This is another area under constant attack by those who want to justify their behavior. When you reduce right and wrong to whatever is “right in their own minds,” you produce a culture where anything goes. Then everything goes…out the window. Who knows where that might lead? You might even find adults killing babies. Well, at least that couldn’t happen here in America. Right? So, let’s don’t think about that. Let’s go shopping.

3. Property: Once people realized they could vote the money away from the wealthy and into their own pockets, then the proverbial (and political) genie was out of the bottle. So, politicians run for office (and win) using promises based on redistribution of wealth. It’s not just wrong. It’s evil. Because it destroys lives. But who cares, right? It’s just the way things are. The status quo. I’m gonna get mine as long as the gettin’s good. Ok, where do we sign up?

Well, here’s what I think about it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt…

Nothin’s Sacred Anymore

Take the truth and lock it up, and throw away the key

Winds of change are blowing foul; a dance with destiny

Blur the face of love and sex and say it’s all OK

Tell the child it’s just a choice and melt her soul away

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

Can’t we learn from mistakes when they cut to the core.

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

And should we be surprised since we’ve opened that dark, wide door?

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

Cast your vote for social growth and then say yes to law

Keep the peace, divide the wealth; the vision Adolph saw

Hedge the bets and ride the fence; the middle road’s secure

Then one day you’re head to head with all you must endure

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

Can’t we learn from mistakes when they cut to the core.

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

And should we be surprised since we’ve opened that dark, wide door?

Nothin’s sacred anymore.

More! More space and time. More would be sublime.

Someone else can pay long as I get mine today.

Ain’t nothin’ sacred anymore.

© 2002

(lyrics and song found in one of my songbook journals on Amazon)

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So. There’s this little protoplanet named “Vesta.” And, as it churns out, little Vesta might have some clues as to how life on Earth might have formed? Yeah, scientists discovered some areas of impact on the “minor planet” that seem to show “collisions with carbon rich asteroids.” And of course, they emphasize that carbon is the essential building block to all life on earth, from single cell to human.

All that information on a little protoplanet.

But what, in the universe, is a protoplanet? Well, there’s this (lying) definition you can easily find online:

“A large body of matter in orbit around the sun or a star and thought to be developing into a planet – This analysis supported the view that the moon originated from a glancing collision between the earth and another protoplanet 4,500 million years ago.”

But don’t listen to stupid descriptions and definitions like that. Because they just love to bandy humongous numbers around in order to eliminate the possibility of a Creator or Designer of the universe and life. After all, there’s no evidence, of any kind whatsoever, that planets and/or protoplanets existed 4500 million years ago. Because there’s no evidence, of any kind whatsoever, that material things (aka: matter) existed then.

And yet, there’s oodles and oodles (words to describe numbers even bigger than millions) of evidence to suggest that Earth came into existence only thousands of years ago. No, you don’t have to look at any of that evidence. You can choose to totally ignore it ALL. But I suggest you consider the consequences of that choice.

Here’s a little roundabout explanation for why I say that:

When a human being dies, the same carbon that was there before death is still there. Yeah, all the ingredients, so to speak, are contained in that dead body.

So it’s one of those things that should make you go, “hmm.”

Why is there no life in that remaining carbon? Because, if it’s the essential building block of all life on Earth, why does a carbon-rich body die?

I’m not a scientist…and I don’t play one on TV. And I’m not a physicist or alchemist or biologist. I’m just a humble Rhyme and Reason guy. A guy who probably contains as much carbon as anyone in those other professions. And I’m a guy, who, like everyone else, has a time limit for my LIFE here on earth.

But if and when my time to die arrives, my carbon will still be here. So my life did not arise from or depend on carbon. And real science shows the enormity of complexity in human DNA. The code in a single human cell fills volumes of information.

You have your own unique DNA. Everyone does. My finite mind can barely apprehend (and certainly not comprehend) the almost infinite implications of that. But I can say this without hesitation. DNA clearly shows we’re information based.

Not carbon.

It’s sort of like this: my computer is a cool looking device. But without the information in the software, it’s just an intricately designed, shapely piece of aluminum. It’s “lifeless.” And no amount of added aluminum will ever get it to calculate, punctuate, or create a single image, sentence, or sound without help from life and information based people.

I wish scientists who trust in carbon could get real and approach life from the information base. I believe they’d be better equipped to process that information and build a much better understanding of life, love, and design. And they wouldn’t be looking for reasons why we exist on a protoplanet.

Yeah, they might even develop a trust in the Designer.

Hey, a guy can wish, can’t he?

Here we stand

Who wants to listen to (much less, sing) a bunch of  old songs with a bunch of thee’s, thy’s, and thou’s? I mean, not only is that stuff not cool, it just sounds weird. Yeah, the old hymns lyrics say stuff that nobody even understands anymore. Right?

Well, old hymns lyrics might be hard to understand. But not impossible.

Most of the old hymns lyrics talk about a living, loving Father who shows compassion to all who ask for it. As this example from the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, shows. It’s the second verse in most hymnals (and, yes, I know that’s an uncool thing to talk about, too). Here’s the verse:

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Those lyrics simply show how the almost endless, observable forces of nature and the universe show God’s mercy and love.

And the first verse of the song expresses the hope you can have for each new morning. The hope which can only come from this God. He provides, and has always provided, everything you need.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Sure, there are a lot of those TH words.

That’s what I call ’em. Thy, thee, thou, thine. But you can basically just change them all to some form of you or your. And then the meaning is clear.

Side note: when those lyrics say “thou changest not,” they allude to God’s nature. He’s always been, is now, and always will be good, living, loving, personal, and relational. But He has also changed over the course of time. A LOT. And all for your sake. And mine.

Your Creator has made an everlasting pardon for your many terrible mistakes available to anyone who asks Him. Anyone who asks with genuine repentance that is. And when you do, you’ll receive the peace that endures forever. Because you’ll receive the Spirit of everlasting Life from Jesus. That message comes through in another verse from the song:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Remember this…God doesn’t give you a spirit of fear. He gave you a “spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind“. If you’re not experiencing the strength and hope for a bright tomorrow, it’s most likely because you’re still depending on yourself or your things or something worse. My recommendation is that you don’t have faith in YOUR faith. Have faith in His. As the old hymn’s lyrics say:

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

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I remember Ted Kennedy’s shaky voice, during a eulogy for his brother Robert, as he quoted George Bernard Shaw  who said, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.” I’m not sure Ted OR Robert were capable of anything more than why and why not questions. I hope so. But I won’t know until I leave this world. And maybe then it won’t matter. But I DO know that KNOWING why is awesome.

Because knowing why melts away a lot of the wondering in the world.

And the biggest why question is the one about our existence. Why are we here? If you don’t KNOW the answer to that, you’re liable to come up with all sorts of foolish stuff. Not the least of which (in fact, maybe the most of which) is how everything came from nothing.

Foolishness. And for one main human reason. And one main supernatural reason.

The human reason is: there’s NO such thing as nothing.

The supernatural reason: something from nothing isn’t natural. It doesn’t happen. So, if it DID happen, it would have to be supernatural. Above that which is natural. Outside of all that is natural. Beyond everything that is natural.

Supernatural!

Uh-oh. That takes us toward a supernatural Designer. Because all of creation is FULL of design. And you can’t logically look at design and say it happened all by itself. You know, automatically, it had a designer. And this highly complex world, solar system, galaxy, and universe we live in is held together by design. Not accidentally.

I pondered that sort of thing, way back in 1987, when I still hadn’t found the love of my life. And I wrote a poem (because, yeah, that’s what real thinking men do) about my questions. A lot of why questions. But I ended the poem with an acknowledgment of my ability to KNOW even when I didn’t have an answer. And here’s how it went/goes…

Knowing Why

I pause; I wonder,

And see myself through a magnifying glass.

l ask a question,

And give myself a test that I may never pass.

I yearn for freedom;

I don’t belong in a complicated life.

My needs are simple;

A mountain home and perhaps a loving wife.

So why can’t I make this happen?

Why don’t my dreams come true?

Why is the picture always fading?

And why can’t I change my view?

Why don’t things change no matter how I try?

And why do I constantly ask myself why?

I sit. l listen,

And try to hear all the music in my head.

A song; a feeling.

I need someone to understand what I’ve said.

When I’m being optimistic

I know I’ll be fine.

Asking why is realistic;

Knowing why, divine.

© 1987 (August 26)

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Buy books and music from me:



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Or tell those you care about to jump on the Rhyme and Reason Bandwagon: https://www.TonyFunderburk.com OR

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