What do Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, and Mother Teresa have in common?
Great imaginations and transforming experiences on trains.
I have been amazed by the imagination of J.K. Rowling who envisioned such a wonderful worlds in her mind and gave us vocabulary of words like quidditch and Hogwarts. I have also been amazed by the imagination and creativity that put her stories into movies and then into rides at Universal.
Looking into her background, I found that she, Walt Disney, and Mother Teresa all had life changing experiences through visions they had on trains.
J.K. Rowling was living in poverty when, riding a train, she saw Harry Potter. Disney had just suffered a tremendous blow to his business when riding back from New York to California on a train, he imagined seeing Mortimer Mouse right there on the train. Fortunately his wife said Mickey was a better name for a mouse than Mortimer. M-O-R—T-I-M… just wouldn’t have worked as well. Even the city of Orlando itself, when most people looked at it, they saw, “Not the Beach.” Then with Disney’s imagination and inspiration Orlando became a magic kingdom. Disney had a vision for Orlando that now draws people from across the world to this Magic Kingdom. According to her biography, Mother Teresa was riding on a train when she heard a voice speaking to her. Jesus told her to quit her role as a Catholic school prinicpal. She began to see how her life would be used to help the poor.
All three had visions, marvelous visions from what was to what might be. In Orlando, I have seen how many, many people have worked and are continuing to work making Rowling’s vision not just a world in books and movies but an experience. I have seen how many, many people have worked and are continuing to work making Disney’s dream of a Magic Kingdom for people to enjoy a reality. As a pastor, I think we have only just begun in making Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God into a reality. Like Disney and Rowling, Jesus had quite an imagination. In Jesus imagination, he didn’t see a world of talking animals or witches and wizards, he saw the Kingdom of God – and he saw it everywhere. He was constantly saying to his disciples, “The kingdom of God is like a sower…” “The kingdom of God is like a Mustard Seed…” “The kingdom of God is like one in search of fine pearls…” Jesus wanted all of us to see it, imagine it, and live it into being. He wanted to use people like Mother Teresa, Rowling, Disney, and all who have enjoyed the worlds they could envision.
Disney didn’t want people just to be amused but inspired. When I was young, we watched The Wonderful World of Disney and after the cartoon, the artists would show how their drawings became pictures in motion. Disney wanted his creative artists to inspire others to be creative. Rowling gave us wonderful and outlandish characters, the simplest character in her books is Harry Potter. Harry doesn’t have the color of a Weasley, the size of Hagrid, or the emotion of Malfoy. Harry is in many ways the blandest character which makes us all, male or female, younger or older, so easily identify with Harry. We can be Harry with ease.
Jesus was not as majestic as Caesar nor as colorful as Herod or pious as a Pharisee. He was of a humble origin, a simple carpenter, who came to fill us with dreams and then challenge us to live those dreams into God’s Kingdom. Jesus is still seeking dreamers, those with imagination, people with vision who can see hope where there is despair, life where there is death, and love where there is hate. Arise dreamers, a new world is possible. Let us dream God’s dreams and live them into today. Who knows, maybe it’s time we can all join in the ol’ spiritual, “People get ready, there’s a train a coming.”
