All creatures great and small

Biologist Gordon Wilson sees beauty in all of creation, from mundane brown bugs to exotic colorful lizards. His enthusiasm for God’s creative genius is catching in The Riot and the Dance: Earth, available on Amazon Prime and DVD.

Wilson takes viewers on an engaging journey of exploration beginning near his home in Idaho and continuing to the Oregon coast, Manitoba, Montana, California, the Sonoran Desert, and the island of Sri Lanka. Wilson wants Christians to study creation so they can better know their Creator. “If we wanted to study someone like Michelangelo, we would want to study all his works, his paintings, his sculptures,” he says. “The way you get to know God, you study everything He wrote and made, His living creation, His creatures.”

The biologist gets his hands dirty. He dives across a rocky trail to grab a fleeing snake, explains the danger of a toad’s venom while stroking the animal in his hands, and wades waist-deep to net giant water bugs and water striders. His enthusiasm for each creature’s unique appearance and traits is contagious. Can you guess what beast he is describing here? “Only God could take so much comedy—wrinkled skin, saggy legs, bulging bellies, giant flapping ears, small eyes, long swinging noses, waddling backsides—and assemble them into creatures that are so noble.”

While marveling at the natural world’s beauty, Wilson doesn’t ignore its broken state. All creation groans as it awaits the resurrection, yearning to be made new. For now, death and struggle are a reality. (Smaller children may find the few scenes of predator and prey disturbing, although they are not overly gory.)

Wilson emphasizes stewardship: “In order to take the charge of dominion seriously, we have to know who our charges are, what they eat, how they live, what their habitat requirements are.”

So often, beautiful nature documentaries require selective editorializing by Christian viewers. Not so this work. How refreshing to hear the Bible quoted extensively while God’s incredible handiwork is displayed with marvelous cinematography.