Huell Howser, Baptism, & the Death of Cynicism.

I was moved last week when I heard that Huell Howser had died. Huell, for those of you who have not been blessed with exposure to public television in California, was the host of California’s Gold. For 18 seasons Huell explored the natural, cultural and historic wonders of the Golden State. To me the show is as much a part of my California experience as In-N-Out or Trader Joe's. 

When I moved to California after seminary Huell was in a sense my host. He showed me all the things I never knew or never wanted to know about California. Hannah and I would flip through the channels and get sucked into a California’s Gold marathon only emerging hours later, our brains stuffed with semi-interesting facts about random places like Newberry Springs or mud or how long it takes to paint the Golden Gate Bridge.

But what made Huell and his program so popular (Huell once had a guest spot on the Simpsons) were his peculiarities. Huell was originally from Tennessee, and somehow that background mixed with decades in southern California resulted in a particularly interesting accent. On top of of his peculiar accent Huell was also incredibly full of awe. No matter how mundane and ordinary the people or place, he would always be amazed.

Once he went to an avocado grove. Huell was interviewing the farmers when he cut them off mid-sentence, pointed at their dog and asked, “What IS this? Is that dog eating avocados? That is ahmazing!” No longer was the show about avocado groves or how guacamole makes its way to your plate. Instead it was all about how amazed Huell was at this avocado eating dog! Each show was like that, Huell took something mundane and ordinary and helped you to see just how ah-mazing it was. 

There were days during my time in California when I felt like the people in Isaiah, exiled, thousands of miles from home, away from friends and family. In those times the incredible and hopeful promises of God, promises of life transformed by love, seemed to be thousands of miles away. But there was Huell, and he helped me to see how amazing this place was, how God was at work at that time and in that place, even and especially in the incredibly mundane. To me Huell proclaimed the reality of God’s promises for tomorrow, alive today, here and now. 

To view the world in this way is not easy. To consistently be in awe of where God has brought us involves a kind of death that is particularly difficult for me, at least. An awe-filled life calls for the death of cynicism. To live in awe and in the light of God’s promises means living open to the possibility that what is happening here and now, in this place really is amazing. The good news that Huell proclaimed and the good news tonight? It is. Amen.

-PZ