The Face I Deserve

Heard the Bud Light "Mr. SPF 80 Sunblock Wearer" commercial a few days ago while traveling to and/or from visits.  Relax - I was innocently listening to 103.3 ESPN sports for a few updates.

"Today we salute you Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer.  There are 24 hours in a day -You're wearing 80 hour protection. If the sun fails to go down...You'll be ready.

Your coconut-scented force field

blocks out all the sun's rays and any stray rays from another sun in another galaxy.(you're a star)

30 SPF? Please...you might as well be wearing cooking oil (something smells delicious)

So Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer...feel free to crack one (a bud light) open at high noon in the middle of the Sahara Desert (mr. 80 SPF sunblock wearer)"

I am among those over the age of 30 would not dare go out for a day in the sun without a thick coating of sunscreen, SPF 15 at least, slathered on my skin. I might even add a stripe of neon colored zinc-oxide down my nose, plus a hat for good measure. Of course, for me,  the words of warning about over-exposure came too late. The damage has been done...I looked into the mirror and have, yes, wrinkles! lines! creases!  (Note:  while on this subject - I 'tweeted' this recently: "Help! Glanced at the mirror in the hospital atrium & promptly yanked a 2 inch hair from my earlobe - it's over, I'm old.")

Yeech! What an image! No wonder the multi-million dollar cosmetic industry provides so many moisturizing, micro-encapsulated, mega-drenched, money-sucking methods for combating the effects sun, rain, wind, and life have on our faces. As a baby boomer I may just be willing to concede that I should begin to "act my age," it is abundantly clear that I have no intention of looking it. The standard of beauty, the epitome of handsomeness, is still defined by those flawless faces I see on magazine models and movie stars. Big eyes, perfect noses, collagen enhanced lips (scary), soaring cheekbones are all interchangeable from model to model, star to star.

Moses himself is determined to see God on his second trip up to Sinai's heights. Accordingly, God does go to great lengths to make this desire a reality. But what God does not mention, and Moses does not discern, is that experiencing God's presence in our lives can and should dramatically change us - and change Moses it did.

When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn't aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the LORD. Exodus 34:29 (Too late for SPF 80)

Moses looks more like Casper than Charleston Heston here

Moses is by no means the only one to experience a physical transformation in God's presence. Remember that when Jacob wrestled with the angel, his hip was put permanently out of joint; poor, clumsy Uzzah stumbled against the Ark of the Covenant and was struck dead; and Isaiah cried out in anguish "Woe is me," when he, "a man of unclean LIPS, " saw God with his own eyes. Many of those who met with God were hardly "perfect-model" types - at least not after their confrontation.

While my spiritual ancestors clearly met God face to face at their own risk, today my sense of awe and my "fear of the Lord" appears to have dissolved. When it comes to encountering God, I too often have all the class and respect of the papparazzi.

2012 Jesus face in meter...must squint and turn head to side

Now - I have never seen a  "miraculous appearance" of Jesus' face in some bizarre place. No Jesus has shown up in my bathroom, on a flour tortilla, on a photograph of Aunt Muggie or Uncle Fester.  I must say at least the face of our Lord has had the good sense to appear on a mass produced piece of advertising - no more foolish trekking to southwestern lavatories just to see Jesus. I understand that he  appeared on a Pizza Hut billboard ad - hawking their new spaghetti, the face of my savior has made its appearance. On a fork holding aloft a gooey mass of pasta and sauce, people all over Atlanta, Georgia, saw Jesus' face - his nose and brow and cheekbones outlined by the spaghetti itself, his hair and beard given their substance by the sauce, even the oregano and cheese pitch in to provide him eyes.  Pizza Hut lore has it that they had to hire extra operators to deal with the avalanche of inquiries that phoned in.  Not sure how this would work but now that Pizza Hut has taken on Domino's in the home delivery game, if He shows His face again - these folks could want an order of Jesus "to go."

Jesus is suppose to be in here somewhere

Moses' face, forever altered by his encounter with God, enabled him to communicate the power of God's presence to his people. Furthermore, as Exodus 34:34 states, Moses' transformed face allowed him to converse with God "unveiled." His initial experience with God's glory so changed Moses that from that time on, he enjoyed a uniquely intimate relationship with the divine.


This all has made me think. Does my face reveal my faith? or just the fact that I am getting older?

I'm past 50 and it is said, "After 50 - everyone gets the face they deserve."
What face-marks do I have that testify to having been in His presence?  The face that I have -  is it the face I deserve? I'm afraid to say.  One thing is for sure, just to be safe -  I'm graduating to SPF 30 next time I mow the lawn.