Experience has taught our family that anytime you are at the beach, cover yourself from head to toe in sunscreen ... and I mean head to toe. Before even stepping out on the sand, our backs, faces, the part in our hair, ears, tops of our feet and even under the fabric edge of our swimsuits are covered in sunscreen. I use 85 spf. At the very least, we're rubbing 30 spf on. When we get sweaty or wet from the salty sea, we reapply. We're religious about it.
That doesn't mean we don't miss spots, however. The end of the day is quite revealing as we may have missed the spot under our forearm, the left side of our neck or even our knees. Once Ayla put her own lotion on her back and you could see her handprint where she stopped putting sunscreen on. Sure enough, those spots we missed are bright red and hot to the touch. It's interesting that something that only takes a few minutes to do saves us days of pain, not to mention the potential for skin cancer.
Applying sunscreen to prevent burn is similar to arming ourselves spiritually. We need to be sure to cover everything. Are we praying regularly? Are we immersing ourselves in Scripture? Are we worshipping regularly? Are we surrounding ourselves with believers? Are we reaching out in Christian love to God's children? Are we telling others about the grace of God? This time of focusing on our Lord is not for His benefit ... it's for ours. This world is trying everyday to get us to become of it and not just in it, to push our Christianity to the side and embrace whatever culture throws at us. Satan hunts for the unprotected spots; the places where we allow temptation to lure us. It's a never-ending battle, but God promises us that if we obey Him and keep the faith, we will be victorious.
I once saw a church sign that read: "Applying Sonscreen prevents burning." Indeed it does. It's certainly worth the time to apply it ... preventing a burn that doesn't just last a few days.
