I recently attended a “Jesus Worldview Initiative” retreat sponsored by Good Faith Media. The continuing education event occurred in West Yellowstone, Montana with excursions into Yellowstone National Park.

We entered the park through the Roosevelt Arch at the North Gate where Yellowstone’s wildlife greeted us. Pronghorn antelope grazed in the fields, bald eagles soared through the skies, and bull elk posed by the road.

6,000 buffalo roam the national park. Taxonomists classify America’s national mammal with the repetitiously redundant title of Bison bison bison. Herds regularly block roads and jam traffic. One group sauntered past our vehicle a foot beyond the rolled-down windows.    

Rangers warn about the unpredictable nature of wild animals, but tourists exhibit an idiotic lack of common sense. I observed several people taking closeup selfies with one-ton bison. Others approached within ten yards of a rutting elk for photo ops.

A friend taught me the adage, “Never underestimate the stupidity of people in groups.” Intelligent people do dumb things in group settings. Stories of animals goring or trampling incautious tourists illustrate Darwinism at work.

Yellowstone’s wildlife displays the majesty of God’s handiwork.

Just don’t pet the fluffy cows.