He Was Here

September 19, 2014 (Friday)
On this day in history, September 19, 1928, Mickey Mouse made his first appearance as Steamboat Willie on the silver screen at the Colony Theater in New York City.
Mickey Mouse, and all his little friends who eventually became part of his team, was the brainchild of Walt Disney (1901-1966). Steamboat Willie was born when Walt Disney was a young man of 27. He was born in Chicago December 5, 1901. The family moved to Marceline, Missouri in 1906. Walt’s brother Roy had purchased some farmland there. Not suited for farming, the family moved to Kansas City in 1911, where Walt worked with his father on a huge paper route. In 1917, the family moved back to Chicago. Walt had developed an interest in art, cartoons, and film through the years in Missouri and Kansas, and back in Chicago studied art and became the cartoonist for his high school newspaper.
He drove an ambulance in France at the end of World War 1. In 1919 he moved back to Kansas City where his brother Roy helped him get a job as artist for advertisements. He met Ubbe Iworks, a cartoonist, and they started their own company together. It was not successful, and later Disney joined Fred Harman to begin work with animation, screening their cartoons at a local theater. Their cartoons were wildly popular, but they went bankrupt anyway, whereupon Walt decided to set up shop in Hollywood. There he and his brother, Roy, pooled their money and set up a cartoon studio. The year was 1923.
Walt Disney then began what has become a giant industry familiar to us all. His progress was slow at first, beset with many obstacles and problems, but he was always obedient to his vision. Who among has never been to Disneyland or Disney World, or one of the many theme parks scattered across the nation, all of them inspired by his courageous ventures.

Let’s see. Mickey Mouse made his first sound film in 1928. If we call that his birth, then he is now 86 years old, probably older because he appeared in numerous silent shorts before become Steamboat Willie. Walt Disney passed from the scene in 1966, almost 50 years ago! Exclamation point to emphasize how hard it is for me to believe it. But it’s so. He surely left his mark upon the world. People will always remember he was here.

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Think About ThisThose among us who have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord know that to us He is everything, greater than anyone and the eternal friend who never forsakes us. The secular historian sees Jesus as born in obscurity, living out his life in a very tiny land, as one who angered the leaders of his day, who had him executed on false charges. But he changed history, and today billions of people claim to be his followers. He changed the world. He conquered death. He lives on high, at the right hand of his father. People will always remember he was here. His people know he is here right now. He is real.
HE WAS IS HERE!