Count your blessings Archives - Tony Funderburk

When I was a young boy, my mom saved S&H Green Stamps. They were like rewards you get on your apps these days. Stamps a shopper received at stores, gas stations, or just about anywhere housewives shopped. Yeah, I know. “Housewives” is a politically incorrect term. But it wasn’t back then. Ah…the good old days.

Because when a woman saved enough Green Stamps, she could redeem them for all sorts of household items she found in the S&H catalog. It was like free money. I remember my mom talking with her friends and family about some clock radio or dish set she just got with her stamps. It made for fun, and sometimes lively, conversation. And they’d share the news of double stamps days at the local grocery store. Then, bam! Time to storm the grocery store.

Speaking of time, how is time like Green Stamps? And that’s not actually a trick question.

Answer. They can both be redeemed. Well, I don’t think Green Stamps can anymore. Because I don’t think there’s that kind of rewards program around anymore. But time can still be redeemed.

Dan don’t believe me? Don’t think you could redeem time and get something “for free?”

Well, you can. And guess what you get? OK, I won’t make you guess.

Yeah, I don’t mean you can turn 24 hour days into 30 hour days. But you can buy more time by making good use of the time you have here on planet Earth. In fact, you can buy time that never runs out. How cool is that?!

But you can’t just sit on your time. You gotta redeem it. Here’s how you do that. First, become a Christian. And if you’re already a Christian, you gotta “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” That’s getting a lot harder to do. Because more and more the world doesn’t wanna hear the name Jesus mentioned under any circumstances. So, it’s important to emphasize the “grace” and “salt” part.

I do that here on my blog. I’m redeeming the time I have left by sharing the power of God’s love and His enduring message of eternal life with anyone who cares to listen and/or read.

Now, are you paying attention to the clock? Because there’s a lot more than green stamps at stake.

“All I need is some time to hold in my hands.

If this landed somewhere good with you, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

Stay tuned,

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I’ve been encouraging anybody who would read what I write and listen to what I say to remain optimistic in tough times. But I don’t just say the words. I also share why it’s not just good advice. It’s important to your health down to the marrow of your bones.

The subject came up in my thoughts this morning for a particularly personal reason. Today, April 17, 2026 marks the one year “anniversary” of a stroke that challenged me to follow my own advice. But I believe I can honestly say that, despite challenges, I never dreamed I would face, I have remained optimistic in the tough times of the past year.

I won’t tell you what all the challenges were/are. But they include a left arm and hand that won’t hold things very well without wavering in the air. And a left leg that refuses to take normal steps during a walk. Plus most things on my left side operate with much less efficiency than they did a year ago. That includes my left lung and blood circulation on that side. And probably the weirdest thing that happened was the development of a neurogenic bladder.

Most of the information you’ll find on a neurogenic bladder deals with incontinence, urgency, etc. But what happened to me is something they call an under active bladder. And that means the nerves that alert you to the need to go and allow you to start a stream and go don’t work now. So, I have to insert a catheter four or five times a day, to empty out. Not my idea of a fun time.

And I’ve only shared this personal information with you because I hope it helps somebody understand how crucial it is to remain optimistic, even during rough times like what I described. I know it isn’t always easy. But it’s always necessary. And it’s always doable when you remember that, if you believe and trust in Jesus, one day, sooner than you might imagine, you will see Him…

When we’re born into this world,

Each and every one of us

Face to face with Truth…face to face with Life.

When we leave this world, we’re

Get my Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. Because the flashes of light I share on my website come directly to your inbox. So 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 books and music, right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies.

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I’ve shared the story before how my younger brother and I lived with my grandparents, my dad’s parents, for a little while. This was way back closer to the middle of the last century. In Norman, Oklahoma. And my parents were getting divorced. So my dad made sure my brother and I had a stable home to stay in while they went through the process. And that’s where I first learned about peach preserves, as well as other kinds of fruit preserves.

Because I’m a peachy kinda guy. OK, that’s not the real reason. True, but not the real reason. The real reason I remember, peach preserves, even more than the rest is because of my Grandmother’s peach cobbler and a little story she and I share.

One time, as she was making one of her peach cobblers from scratch, she gave me one of the peach pits. And she told me to open it up and find the seed. Being the highly curious five year-old boy I was, I did that. I remember thinking how the pit felt like wood. And it even had sort of a crisscross lattice look. So, I was certainly surprised to find a somewhat soft seed inside the “wooden” pit.

“Grandmother,” I blurted out. “Look! I found it!”

“Do you know what that seed can turn into?” she asked.

“No. What?” I replied.

She said, “Take this old spoon outside and dig a small hole and plant that seed inside it and then cover it up with the dirt.”

And that was that. At least that’s all there was to it for almost another 20 years. But it was about that many years that I was back at their house as an adult, with a lot of extended family, celebrating my grandparents 50th anniversary. And you know how it goes. The three sons, one of which was my dad, brought the families, and each family brought some goodies. So, plenty of good food, relative, seeing each other for the first time in a while, and one particularly delightful treat for me.

Right there on the kitchen counter was a cobbler made with homemade peach preserves.

As I was serving up a slice for myself, Grandmother came in and asked me how I liked it. Of course, I said I loved it. And she said, “Would you believe I got the peaches from that tree right out there in the yard where you planted a seed when you were a little boy?”

I thought that was so cool. Still do. And I doubt that I’ll ever forget that story. What brought it to mind for me today was a line from the second letter. Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy. It made me think about what God does that. Nobody deserves. He sort of makes us into some peachy preserves. Here’s the line from Paul’s letter:

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.

That’s what I wish for you and me today. And here’s some more of…

There are people of the past

We don’t wanna hear it.

Oh, I wish our world was better.
I wish our world was fair.
I wish we’d get together

There are innocent children

We don’t want to hear it.

Oh, I wish our world was better.
>I wish our world was fair.
>I wish we’d get together

I share it with believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Spend your time reading, listening, and watching good stuff based on the power of God’s love instead of looking for it. 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.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

Stay tuned,

The post Peach preserves and what no one deserves appeared first on Tony Funderburk.

It was four years ago, to the day, today. And a few minutes ago I ran across something I shared that day. I can see it, in my mind’s eye, almost as clearly as if I were looking right at it right now. And that’s even though my location is about as different, now, as night is from day.

I talked about how I was using my iPhone as my computer that morning, in sync with my small, foldable, bluetooth keyboard. And I had my computer, oops iPhone, propped up nicely on a little “drawer” in the dash of my mobile office which was my little blue Toyota truck.

So, I mentioned how I could see a fairly long stretch of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Blue skies, snow-capped peaks, and a few swatches of white clouds drifting by.

It was an early winter day in the early part of 2021. And, yep, January 3rd to be exact. I appreciated the fact that I could sit there soaking in the scenery AND share it with you on my small, portable devices. What a blessing, in a never-ending series of blessings that come with living in the digital age.

And I called ’em blessings as I pointed to a day, not all that long ago in the past, when none of that would have been possible. NONE! But these days you can share ideas, images, words, music, and even videos literally with the world. Almost instantaneously.

Skip the publisher’s rules and arbitrary methods. Skip the hassles of waiting for printing and binding and distribution. And skip the need for bulky, loud, and unreliable equipment.

Yeah, these days you just whip out the little device you carry with you all the time, open up your favorite word processor or video recorder, and blast out your thoughts.

The information and resources to do all this have been here on our little blue planet since the day it was made.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Yeah, every single thing you and I ever needed, to be able to type words on a little keyboard and have them show up on a small screen (connected through the air) has been here our whole lives. And for the whole history of the world.

The only thing lacking, until this time in history was the know-how. An understanding of what does what.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of why God tells us to get understanding. Matter of fact, He says “in all your getting, get understanding.” But He adds a caveat just before that when He says “Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom.”

And that’s because humans tend to have an uncanny knack for messing up a good thing. So many people immediately look for (or stumble into) a way to corrupt or pervert the very things that make their lives better and easier. And it’s almost impossible to avoid being one of those people without wisdom.

No, I’m sure you’re just as much in awe over the ability to have a tiny, mobile office as I am. And I’m sure you wanna use your technology and gifts and talents to help others get and maintain an eternal perspective on life.

If so, I encourage you to look for opportunities to serve others. Starting today, if you haven’t already. And help them get to the day when they understand. And realize how they wouldn’t be able to enjoy any entertainment or business applications on their smartphones, laptops, or TV’s, if God hadn’t put all the information here in the first place.

Okay, for today, look for wisdom from The Way.

Once you see the benefit, join the growing body of believers who’ve already signed up for the Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. And I’ll send you daily flashes of light so we can stay focused on faith, hope, and love.

Stay tuned…

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I remember watching certain kinds of sci-fi movies, way back in decades past, that showed unbelievable scenarios for the future. But here we are, IN that future, and some of those things actually came true. One thing, in particular, is how easy it has become to terminate people just because they annoy you.

Starting in the womb.

Your own internet browser will give you the evidence for this. They’re called “suggestions.” Type something into your browser search bar. You don’t even have to type the whole phrase “terminate people.” Just type the word, terminate. Then, add a space. And then start to go through the alphabet. You won’t have to go past A to find the evidence I’m talking about.

Because one of the “suggestions” after you type “terminate a” is “terminate a pregnancy.” The other suggestions include contract, lease, and process. No problem. But then there’s pregnancy. Why is that a suggestion? Because that’s what people search for.

And that’s because nobody wants to do a search for “how to kill a baby in the womb.” That just sounds so bigoted, hateful, and mean. Why would anybody say that about a terminated pregnancy? They must be old or republican or something.

But have you noticed how many people act as thought they don’t even know what that is in a mother’s womb? And that’s in spite of the fact that ultrasound technology has made it SO simple to see it’s a baby.

It has turned into a debate over location and connection.

One of the main reasons so many people are comfortable calling a baby in the womb just a “lifestyle choice” is the baby’s location. In the womb.

You’d have to be willfully ignorant (aka: X-tra Stupid), to see a woman who’s 6 months pregnant and not know what’s making her belly protrude. (side note: I know the explosion of grossly obese women has blurred this distinction a little. But the point stands.)

Anyway…

Point is, even if you’re a person who CHOOSES to act stupid, you know what it means when a woman is pregnant. There’s a baby in there.

So, when you “terminate pregnancies,” you terminate people. Period.

And if you support the murder of the most innocent human beings, where will you draw the line? The answer is, you won’t draw a line. Because you’re willing to buy into the idea that murder is an actual solution to problems.

So, since you can terminate an “unplanned pregnancy” it’s only a short step terminating people you disagree with or don’t like.

And one of the most disagreeable, unlikeable people you’re likely to run across is someone who holds the opposite political opinions.

I haven’t been a Donald Trump supporter because of his willingness to compromise on the termination of babies whose fathers were criminals. And his willingness to turn his head when it comes to certain other issues that, let’s say, don’t meet with God’s approval.

That being said, I DO believe Mr. Trump is an American patriot on a fairly high level. But even if I disagreed with him on everything, including his compromise on abortion, it would never enter my mind to want him terminated.

I don’t even want that despicable, poor excuse for a human being, who currently occupies the big white house in Washington, D.C. to be terminated by a bullet. I WILL rejoice when I see God’s vengeance on him and all other God haters one day, though.

But someone decided it would be fine to put a bullet in Donald Trump’s head. And that person, with the backing of who knows who, came within an inch or two of doing exactly that.

Oh how I wish that close call would clarify Mr. Trump’s respect for human life. I wish he’d think, “Wow, that bullet zing across my ear hurt bad. I can only imagine what an unborn baby must feel when those cold steel clamps tear his or her arms and legs off. We’ve got to abolish abortion.”

And if Donald’s brush with death helps seal a win for him this November, at least he won’t destroy America the way Joke Biden has. But without a connection to the True moral compass of the one, true, living, loving Creator, NO administration will save America from destruction.

Trump will possibly slow down the process, somewhat. But a nation that kills 3000 innocent babies every day, and teaches evolution in government indoctrination camps, will not last. And America has already been doing that for 50 years and more. Time is running out.

My audience is very small, compared to the population of the world. But thanks to internet technology, my message can be seen and heard around the globe. So, if you see or hear this, I hope it inspires you to do what you can to share the saving grace of Jesus.

Because as long as the idea that it’s OK to terminate people grows, you have a bullseye on your head, too. And you don’t have a secret service team to shield you from the assassin’s bullet.

Time is all you need to create

Before you go, jump on the The TRUTH. And join the growing band of believers who enjoy my books, daily rhymes, songs, and videos about the Rhyme and Reason and power of God’s love.

Stay tuned,

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