{"id":815,"date":"2017-09-29T10:46:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T15:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/have-you-ever-been-caught-in-ac\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:11:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:11:07","slug":"have-you-ever-been-caught-in-ac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=815","title":{"rendered":"Have You Ever Been Caught in the Act?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hand in the cookie jar? Cookie crumbs all over your face? Have you ever been frozen in your tracks when the lights came on? Rendered motionless like a deer in the headlights? Frozen with your heart pounding through your chest? Gotten a ticket for speeding? <\/p>\n

Our minds can go all over the place with that question. I remember, as a little girl, that I found a package of gum on the floor at the store and slipped it in my pocket. My Mom caught me \u201cin the act\u201d and promptly made me say \u201cI am sorry\u201d and hand it to the cashier. That simple \u201ccaught in the act\u201d has stayed with me to this day and it has kept me honest \u2013 even to the point that if a cashier gives me too much change back, I\u2019ll quickly return it. I even took back two metal cups to Chili\u2019s that held the sauces in my \u201cto go\u201d box. Being \u201ccaught in the act\u201d can certainly keep us on top of our honesty and integrity. <\/p>\n

In my grandson\u2019s debate tournament last year, they were debating what keeps a criminal from recommitting the same crime again. Some would say that \u201cstiff punishment\u201d is what would do it. Others debated that rehabilitation programs would be the answer to getting their lives together and on a road to honesty. Others would say being “caught in the act” was enough punishment for them to not recommit the crime.<\/p>\n

This post was inspired when I read the scriptures about the woman who was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of adultery (John 8:1-11). The super religious Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught “in the act”.They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, \u201dTeacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery.\u201d I love this story because I love the greatest LOVER she had ever encountered, Jesus, who simply started drawing in the sand. Some scholars say (and I tend to prefer this thought) that Jesus started writing in the sand the sins of each of those who brought her to them, and they all slipped away. Jesus asked her \u201cWhere are your accusers?\u201d And she replied \u201cThere are none!\u201d Oh, how I love Jesus! He had, and has, so much extravagant love to give.<\/p>\n

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There really are times when it is a good thing for us to be “caught in the act”. Why? Because otherwise we can deny until our hearts become perfectly hardened, as hard as a rock. When we continue to \u2018get away with it\u2019, it becomes easier to be more untruthful, become slicker and slicker, and even more lives get entangled in our mess. When we are confronted face to face with our mess, and take our mess to the lover of our souls, we find grace. That woman found the loving grace of Christ. <\/p>\n

While being \u201ccaught in the act\u201d tends to have negative connotations, I want to turn it on its head and change our mindset to being \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of goodness, mercy, and kindness. Jesus set the example for us. The woman was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of adultery. Jesus was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of forgiveness and healing. Jesus was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of raising the dead when he saw a widow grieving at her only son\u2019s funeral. Jesus was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of multiplying loaves and fishes to feed over 5,000 men, plus women and children. Jesus was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of welcoming the little children to come to him.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve changed my way of thinking. Though I don\u2019t want to look for the applause of those who see if I\u2019m \u201ccaught in the act\u201d of anything, I want my “caught in the act” to be consoling someone who needs a friend, giving kindness and mercy when someone didn\u2019t really deserve it; giving to that one who is struggling and putting my arms around that one that needs encouragement. If you were \u201ccaught in the act\u201d today, what would you hope you were doing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hand in the cookie jar? Cookie crumbs all over your face? Have you ever been frozen in your tracks when the lights came on? Rendered motionless like a deer in the headlights? Frozen with your heart pounding through your chest? Gotten a ticket for speeding? Our minds can go all over the place with that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1853,4774,4775,4776,4777,1856,4778,4779,4780],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-act-of-adultery","tag-caught-in-the-act","tag-caught-in-the-act-of-adultery","tag-caught-in-the-act-of-kindness","tag-hand-in-the-cookie-jar","tag-john-81-11","tag-pharisees","tag-ticket-for-speeding","tag-where-are-your-accusers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7364,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions\/7364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}