Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

The Galapagos is the closest thing to the Garden of Eden on earth. There aren't natural predators so the animals seems so tame. You can walk right up to marine iguanas or pelicans. Sometimes the sea lions bark or the turtles hiss or the lizards run, but let's just say that zoos will never be the same again. All these animals are like two feet away from you and there is no fence. We went swimming with sea lions. We watched frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies dive bomb right off our boat.

I kept thinking of the way Adam must have interacted with the animals pre-fall. By the way, I wonder how long it took to name them? I'm guessing it must have taken a hundred years. And it's not like God lined them up single-file. I wonder if Adam went bird-watching and snorkeling and mountain climbing to find and name the animals. His first job was a safari. That is one reason why I think the spirit of exploration is hard-wired into the human soul. We were created to explore God's creation.

I read the Genesis account while we were on the trip and I was marveling at the fifth day. What a day! We have been exploring and enjoying for thousands of years what God did in one day. I kept thinking that a well-stamped passport is good stewardship if you see travel as a spiritual field trip.

Here are a few pictures of Eden.

The lizards owned the sidewalks! Sea Lions would jump up on boats and chill out on them all day long. And there were blue-footed boobies everywhere!