“No!” We told our dog Little John over and over. “No cups!”

It was Christmas and we had some family over to our house for a small get-together. To save ourselves some work, we used paper plates and Styrofoam cups. Little John snatched a cup and chewed on it. And chewed. And chewed. And chewed. I don’t know how many cups we had to take away from him and say “No!”

He knew exactly what that word meant, but that didn’t stop him. The rest of the evening he worked very hard at stealing Styrofoam cups from our guests. We had to constantly watch him. The next day he managed to find cups that we had missed picking up the previous evening. So, we thoroughly searched the house again and thought we had found all the empty cups.

We thought wrong.

A couple of days later I was in the house by myself. As I was washing dishes, I began to hear: crunch…crunch…crunch. I walked into the living room where the TV was. Crunch…crunch…crunch. I checked the volume, which was turned almost all the way down. Crunch…crunch…crunch.

I followed the noise back through the kitchen. Crunch…crunch…crunch. Down the hallway. Crunch…crunch…crunch. The sound grew louder as I neared Sara’s bedroom door. CRUNCH…CRUNCH…CRUNCH. I slowly walked in and glanced around her room. I didn’t immediately see anything, but I still heard: CRUNCH…CRUNCH…CRUNCH.

The crunching noise was louder on the left side of Sara’s bed. So, I stepped around to see Little John’s rear sticking out from under her bedspread. He was a miniature dachshund, so he was small enough to fit under her bed.

Somehow, he had managed to find a stray Styrofoam cup and was chewing on it. He was so focused on his guilty pleasure that he hadn’t heard me walk down the hallway and into Sara’s room.

For a few seconds, I stood there and took in the situation. Little John was under the delusion that he was completely hidden while he chewed on the cup. Unfortunately for him, the loud crunching noise and his rear sticking out from under the bed gave him away.

“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” Luke 12:2 (KJV)

I hate to admit it, but I have behaved like Little John a few times. No, I didn’t chew on a Styrofoam cup while hiding under a bed; nonetheless, I have tried to hide my sins. And guess what, it didn’t work. It doesn’t work for any of us.

We may hide our sins from others for a while, but they’re never hidden from the Lord. And sometimes through His grace, He allows us to get caught in the act.

You see, I realized fussing at Little John and telling him “No!” hadn’t worked. I knew he needed to learn a lesson that he would never forget. Without uttering a word, I bent down and gently touched his back.

“AARRRRR!!” It almost sounded like a human squeal. In one fluid motion he spun his body around to where he was lying beside the bed and facing me. I think he was in shock for a few seconds. Bless his little Styrofoam chewing doggie heart.

Again, without saying a word, I reached under the bed and pulled out what was left of the cup. To be honest, I didn’t say anything because I was laughing so hard.

I have never forgotten that day and I doubt if Little John did either.