I love taking the boys to see all of the different animals. They each have their favorites and those favorites seem to change from one trip to another. The excitement in their eyes as they see a cheetah dart into a clearing, or a set of otters dive into the water would be well worth the price of admission. More than the excitement in their eyes, I enjoy the conversations that are sparked as we see the diversity and creativity among the different animals. I get the chance to talk about the God we worship to Hudson and observe his eagerness and willingness to ask me about why God made the orangutan so big, or the jaguar afraid of the water. As parents, Jen and I pray for those conversations and are thankful for an environment where those conversations can be accelerated as we enjoy the creativity that He has put on the earth.
But to be honest, the zoo is a bittersweet trip. As I walk around and see these magnificent animals, I can't help but feel that this isn't the way it's supposed to be. My heart hurts as I hear people yelling at the bears, hoping to entice a growl, or making goofy faces at the silverback as if seeing him run into the glass is humorous, because this wasn't the way God designed us to interact with creation. Certainly God designed man to rule over all of his creation, and to bear his image and likeness to it, and the idea of image and likeness has an authoritative role to it, but not like this. Man was not made to cage the animals, and poke and prod at them, laughing and making fun of their lack of freedom. Instead, man was to serve as God's representative on earth, ruling and reigning with care and justice. In this way the zoo serves as one more reminder of the consequences of the fall. Adam and Eve did not just lose fellowship with God and with one another due to their sin, but they also lost fellowship with creation as a result of their rebellion.
I usually end my trip to the zoo on a high note, as it reminds me again of the longing I have for Christ's return and I believe those animals and all of creation long for the same thing (Romans 8), when all of this world will be restored and reconciled with one another. At that time no bars will need to separate me from tiger or lion, as this world will once again be the way God created it with the God Man ruling over all of it with care and justice as God designed in the beginning. And perhaps this is the very best conversation I can have in those moments of the zoo with Hudson and Athan, that though we enjoy seeing these animals and the creativity that God has revealed in them, the best is still yet to come!
