Robert Lowery

The announcement in the “Life” section of USA Today, November 7, 2008, caught me by surprise. In the section on “New on DVD,” I read with delight that the 1949-60 run of the Howdy Doody show has now been released and it costs only $30.00. What a bargain! I thought. I read the summary and smiled:

We’ve had Howdy VHS-DVD predecessors, but the kinescope quality here is excellent and the programming skews toward the earlier prime era. You get: Bob Keeshan (later Captain Kangaroo) as Clarabell; Judy Tyler’s Princess Summerfall Winterspring; Howdy foil Buffalo Bob Smith saying ‘Bouncing Buffaloes’; Chief Thunderthud originating ‘Cowabonga’ and putting a ‘um’ on every word (‘Sant-um Clas-um’) . . .

(Don’t get caught up on its occasional political incorrectness, please. Get a life!) I beamed as I read the description. One of these days I am going to own the collection.

But what challenged me was that I had forgotten about Chief Thunderthud shouting out “Cowabonga!.” Because of my children’s television viewing habits, when I hear the expression, I had only thought of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a show, quite frankly, that bored me to tears.

Cowabonga! It is a word that is found in the Book of Revelation. Didn’t you know that? It is the way that I translate the Greek word that is a command: Idou! In English translations it is rendered Behold! or Look! Unfortunately, in the NIV it is only translated in Rev. 1:7; 16:15; 21:3; 22:7,12 as “Look!” and as “See” in 3:8. But the word appears twenty-six times in Revelation (1:7,18; 2:10; 2:22; 3:8,9,20; 4:1,2; 6:2,5,8; 7:9; 9:12; 11:14; 12:3; 14:1,14; 16:15; 19:11; 21:3,5; 22:7,12). You have to go to the superior translation, The English Standard Version, for a consistent rendering of the command. Why the NIV translators omitted it most of the time is beyond me. Cowabonga! appears more than two dozen times in a twenty-two chapter book. It is a crucial command in Revelation; in fact, it is the most frequent command in the book. So it must be important. And it is.

Cowabonga! is a term that commands us to sit up and take notice, to open our eyes and our ears, to stop looking at what is going on in our world and see a deeper reality, the reality of a God who is at work in both good times and bad times. It is a word that gives us perspective: this world is not our home, we’re just a passin’ through.

Cowabonga! challenges us to look back to the victorious life of Jesus (5:5-6; 12:3).

Cowabonga! challenges us to look in and examine the way we are living (2:22; 3:20; 16:15; 22:7,12) and answer honestly: Are we truly being faithful to Jesus?

Cowabonga! challenges us to look around at the fellowship with brothers and sisters that will march on through eternity (7:9).

Cowabonga! challenges us to look outward, realizing that there are no boundaries with regard to our mission (3:8; see also 7:9).

Cowabonga! challenges us to look forward when Christ shall come in splendor and glory (1:7; see 22:7,12).

In the midst of spiritual warfare, Cowabonga! Look to the heavens because the Deliverer comes.

In the midst of social, economic, political, personal, and military upheaval, Cowabonga! Lift up our eyes for the night is passing and the Day is drawing near.

C.S. Lewis reminds us that our watching, our beholding must never rule out . . .

sober work for the future within the limits of ordinary morality and prudence. . . . For what matters is judgment; happy are those whom it finds laboring in their vocations, whether they were merely going out to feed the pigs or laying good plans to deliver humanity a hundred years hence from some great evil. The curtain has indeed fallen. Those pigs will never in fact be fed, the great campaign against white slavery or governmental tyranny will never in fact proceed to victory. No matter; you were at your post when the inspection came.

So this day here is my challenge: Cowabonga!

Related posts:

1. Howdy Doody and the Book of Revelation