Darkness surrounded me, there was no light.

My skin turned pale, drained of life.

Searching for answers, only silence remained.

I reached for hope, my final act.

Pressing  on “Submit,” TurboTax accepted my filing.

My burden gone, the IRS fully satisfied.

Easter morning takes on a whole different ambiance with a teenager in the house.

Getting ready to eat his pre-church Hot Crossed Bun, my boy launched into what appeared to be a rap audition.  Yes, rhyming and rapping.  Refining his craft all on Easter morning.

Jesus gave us new life and our teen gave us a new sound.  I’m grateful for both blessings, but to be honest, I prefer the ancient way.

At last night’s Good Friday service, they read one of my favorite passages of scripture.  Dying on a cross, a convicted criminal turns to Jesus, who is being crucified beside him.  The criminal acknowledges his own sin and the innocence of Jesus.

The criminal, just like us, is flawed and in so many ways unworthy of forgiveness.  In that moment, however, Jesus not only provides comfort, but also a glimpse of the afterlife.  “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).  The guilty and the innocent together in Paradise.  The criminal granted ultimate forgiveness by the grace of God alone.  An eternal gift for us all, a reason to celebrate.

So tonight, as you go to bed, remember that when you wake on Easter morning, live life with joy.  Live life with hope.  Live life renewed, because you have been given a priceless gift.  Smile and celebrate.

Good Friday certainly doesn’t sound right.  As tonight’s sermon considered, “What’s so ‘good’ about it?”  A voice of love was crucified by blind power.  A voice of love was silenced and sent to the grave.  Certainly doesn’t sound good and on that day so long ago, it was not.

It is however “good,” today.  Truly good for us.  Good for all of us who are flawed.  Good for all of us who struggle.  Good for all of us who need forgiveness.  Good in the eyes of a loving God.

As we took a pause in tonight’s church service and turned to greet our neighbors in the pew, I shook the hand of my 8-year-old son Ben.  With a sheepish smile, he took the opportunity to tell me a quick story.  “I just went to put my hands in my pockets and realized that my pants are on backwards.”

Yes, the dear Lord acts in unexpected ways daily.  Unexpected ways that turn somber remembrances into truly “good” days.  Unexpected ways that put a smile on your face, just like a Second Grader, who is wearing his pants in reverse.

I know that I’m no Rocky.  I know that I’m no Ali.  I know that my boxing abilities are limited to a strategy of land two solid punches and run like Hell, but when my boxing instructor said that I “hit hard,” I felt like a champion.  Why?  Well, because I’m a man and men like to be manly.

Yep, I’m a man.  I’m a man, who “hits hard.”  Remember that world, if you ever see me land two punches and run like Hell.

Tonight, I brace myself.  Two documents remain.  Two pieces of paper needed for my long voyage into tax preparation.  I sort of know where they are.  At least which floor of the house.

Glass of wine.  A prayer.  I can do this.

Two pieces of paper.  They’re there.  Somewhere.  I can find ’em.  I know I can.

Go get ’em, brave American.

Day Two of Spring Break, we figured we would take the afternoon and visit the zoo.  Getting a fairly late start, we arrived at the zoo around 2PM to realize that it closed in two hours.  Never fear kids, Dad has a camera.  Let’s make every minute count.

Photo One – the boys riding a bronze giant tortuous.  I know this sounds like it would be a cute photo, but a misplaced tortuous head and trust me, it looked very inappropriate.  Therefore, this one was left on the Editing Room floor.  Again, trust me, it is for the best.

Photo Two – the boys at a Monkey Exhibit sans actual monkeys in the photo.  Trust me, there were lots of monkeys in the exhibit, but I only got my three monkeys in the photo.  It’s a start.

Photo Three – the boys and their mom at the zoo.  Jacob at age 13 has already mastered the “Huh?” face, which is an essential look for all teenagers.

Photo Four – the boys were bad, so they had to be placed in a cave.  Sorry kids, but those are the breaks.

Photo Five – feeding time for the sharks.  Years from now, the boys will wonder, “Why didn’t Dad ever capture any images of actual animals in any of the pictures from the zoo?”  Hum, good question, future version of my kids.  Good question.

Photo Six – my attempt at being “artsy” with a bamboo door.  Um, nice try.

Photo Seven – the obligatory photo of the boys in front of the obligatory wingspan visual.

So there we have it.  Only 120 minutes, but plenty of photos from the trip to the zoo.  Not bad for Spring Break:  Day Two.

Oh and on a side note, I was saddened, when the family did not allow me to attend the 4:15PM IMAX showing of Scarlett Johansson’s new film “Ghost in the Shell,” which I kept calling “Ghost in the Machine” by accident.  Hey, can’t blame a dad for showing some animal tendencies, especially during a trip to the zoo.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

If you sit in just the right spot on our porch, you can see if the light is on in our 10-year-old son Sam’s room.  The other night, as I started to shut down for the night, I glanced up and saw that Sam’s light was on.  Far too late for Sam to be up and soon approaching an hour when I should be asleep, as well.

Walking upstairs, I entered Sam’s room to find his bedside lamp on and Sam fast asleep on his covers.  Turning off the lamp, I noticed how tall Sam has grown.  My boy was growing up.  My happy, creative, blessing of a child was getting older right in front of me.

As I exited Sam’s room, I smiled.  We are indeed blessed to have Sam and his brothers in our midst.  Happy, healthy, and gifts in every way.  We’ve done nothing to deserve these blessings, but we certainly are grateful.  For as we try daily to be the best parents we can be, beautiful results are unfolding before us.

Son, keep doing what you’re doing, although try to remember to turn off the lamp, because you are a blessing with or without the glow of a bedside light.

The other day, I got really excited about finding some forgotten dress socks in the bottom of my sock drawer.  Exciting for my feet, but not the makings for a very exciting blog post.  Just my luck, some more sock material was in my future.

Today, we took the kids to a modern art museum in Minneapolis.  As we strolled around, my 8-year-old son Ben asked, “Is this art?”  My answer surprised and pleased me, “Yes, think of Modern Art as a puzzle.  It is our job to try and figure out the puzzle.  What is the art trying to tell us?  Plus, sometimes there is more than one right answer.”  This seemed to please Ben.  Good job, dad.

Ben’s question also made me ponder what aspect of “Cookies by Dave” is closest to Modern Art.  Easy answer, the “Where in the World Are [Fill in the Blank’s] Socks” series fits the bill.  Good thing I have fresh material on hand.

On Friday night, one of Ben the Art Critic’s socks was in action in the living room.  Enjoy!

For your added enjoyment, here are the boys in action at the Modern Art museum in a very, very narrow and very, very green hallway.  I’ll have you know that I also was able to fit down the hallway.  Barely.

For the record, very few things raises a dad’s blood pressure like trying to keep track of three young boys in an art museum.  “I sure hope insurance is gonna cover any accidental damage.  No, correction, I pray that insurance will cover any accidental damage.  Hopefully, our ‘Warhol Insurance Rider’ will handle this.”

I was trying to be good.  Trying to wake up early and go to the gym.  So far, it was a success.  I had completed my workout.  I was freshly showered.  I was getting dressed and ready to go to work.

Well, almost dressed, when the fire alarm went off in the locker room.  A really loud fire alarm.  A piercing, loud, pulsating, and flashing alarm.  Not the type to be ignored.  Sorry guys, I guess I am just too hot.  Or better yet, smoking.  No seriously, my thoughts turned to getting out of gym.  Fast.  Other than the poor dude that was in the shower, everyone else had better get going too.  The guy in the shower should just stay there.  Sort of a built in sprinkler system.

Any who, I finished buttoning my shirt and headed toward the exit.  Sure, I looked disheveled, but I could find somewhere else to finish getting dressed.  By the way, does anyone else hear that deafening alarm?  Judging by the lack of movement toward the door, perhaps not.

Walking briskly through the lobby, two things caught my attention.  No, not a fireball of death.  That would have made sense.  No, there were about a half dozen people sitting and drinking coffee in the lobby.  Really?  Folks, I love coffee too, but (a) there is a fire alarm going off and (b) it is louder than a jet plane landing.  Get out!  For the love of God, run!  Then I noticed the second thing, there was someone actually entering the building.  Really?  Do you need to work out so bad that death by smoke inhalation is an acceptable risk factor?  Idiot.

Sure it was probably a false alarm, but walking to my car, I smiled.  I may have been unkempt, but I was alive.  Sometimes Darwinism ain’t pretty, but it sure does beat a cup of coffee, while the building burns down around you.