I recently heard a story about a woman named Bonnie Blodgett who lost her sense of smell after treating a cold with zinc based nasal spray. As a columnist on gardening, this was a huge blow to Blodgett’s life. She couldn’t smell her favorite lilacs anymore, or taste her home grown creations. What struck me the most in her interview with NPR was that she never realized how much her sense of smell affected everything in her life. Smell is something so normal that we never even think about how it affects our connection to life. It is so natural that we may never even notice its existence unless we are in the presence of a fresh baked batch of chocolate chip cookies or approaching the smoke house attached to the best barbeque rib joint in town. This is what Ms. Blodgett had to say about the experience:
“"I had no way of knowing before what it would be like to not smell anything," she says. "When I woke up and sniffed and there was nothing there — I don't know how to explain it — I felt completely disconnected. I truly felt as if colors were more flat. The voices in conversation felt like a TV soundtrack to me. Smell is tied into the other sensory systems and into the emotions," she says, "and, in a way, that causes everything to be kind of thrown out of whack when you lose it."
At the same time I heard this story, I had decided to return to C.S. Lewis’s book Miracles. One of my favorite things about C.S. Lewis is the form in which he approaches his explanation of the parts of faith that are very hard to grasp. Before entering the nitty gritty, he takes the most basic piece of the issue and make sure you believe that first. He understands that without this basic piece, the rest of the book will be meaningless blabber to the reader. In Miracles, the basic concept that readers must adhere to is that there is the existence of supernatural occurrences. Someone who is a naturalist, or does not believe in the supernatural, believes that every single event is a part of the “total system” and can be explained scientifically. C.S. Lewis says that naturalists have simply become unaware of the supernatural nature of all things around them. They have forgotten that the act of their own thinking about Nature falls outside of the necessities of the “total system.” Because the supernatural is so common, like the sense of smell, they are able to ignore its existence. They forget that the very ability to reason, or make moral judgments, does not fit in to the system. Lewis likens the idea to a person looking at their garden, and becoming completely unaware that they are looking through a window. Forgetting the window must come from some degree of absentmindedness. It is not necessary to constantly think about the window when looking at the garden, but to understand all of your surroundings, and make logical conclusion about your existence you must acknowledge the window as a piece of your reality.
Although naturalist have become so far removed from the idea of the supernatural that they do not believe it exists, we all fall short of noticing the supernatural in our everyday lives. I think of the supernatural as God’s gift that connects us to His creation. When I heard the words of Ms. Blodgett it became so apparent that God created our senses to work together in connecting us with the world He created for us. Most of us don’t know what it is like to lose, or never have, one of our senses. We take for granted the smells, sights, feelings, tastes and sounds that allow us to fully interact in the most mundane day to the most exciting experiences of our lives. Not only that, we completely miss the multitude of supernatural ways God is working in our lives to connect us to one another and show His love for all creation. When we realize that the supernatural is not something you have to go on a journey to find or wait around for in a time of pain, but it is an ever present reality that constantly goes unnoticed, we can truly understand why God could say with confidence that if you seek Him you will find Him.
With that said, Katie and I are once again on a mission to share some of the gifts God has given us with the less fortunate. It is marathon season again, and we are back on the trails. No, Katie isn’t running the marathon with a baby on board, but she is still my motivation and the heart of the team!
This year we are fundraising along with a marathon training team from our church, Orchard Hill, called Iowans for Africa. The team is supporting a community in the Gorongosa region of Mozambique, Africa where the children do not have the guaranteed privileges that our child will have in this country. However, through your support, we can provide the children with an amazing opportunity for their future: A school building with a full time teacher! At this point, the children have school under a tree while sitting on dirt under a scorching sun (see photo). Rainy season causes school to be canceled often, and without a building the government refuses to provide a teacher. Our team has a goal of raising $110,000, which is enough to build a school in Mozambique and provide shelter and education to the children of that community. I won’t lie, 26.2 miles of running is not fun, but being able to share the love of God by using the gifts he has given me is priceless. Katie and I would greatly appreciate you support again this year through your pledge of $1 a mile. However, since those last 6.2 are so stinking painful we will just round it up to $30. $30 from 100 of our family and friends will be such an amazing gift to the children of Gorngosa. We take so many things for granted here in the States, but a school to those children will be a light of God in the middle of darkness.
You can donate securely online at http://www.firstgiving.com/jordanvernoy or mail check made out to “Orchard Hill Church” to:
The Vernoy’s
2504 Rainbow Drive
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Thank you so much for your continued prayers, love and support!
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