Thomas the Tank Engine

As I write, my oldest son, Jonathan, who will be 5 next month is cleaning up after playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine train set. Jonathan’s love affair with Thomas the Tank Engine is not unique. After all, Thomas is really popular with most pre-schoolers. Thomas and his many friends are lovable characters (mostly steam engines but there are others) who work diligently on the Island of Sodor hoping to be “really useful engines” without causing “confusion and delay”. Most of Jonathan’s video and DVD collection is made up of Thomas episodes, and Jonathan has taught his little brothers, Matthew (age 3) and Stephen (age 1) to love Thomas and Friends as well. In fact, our baby boy, Stephen, now cries each time an episode of Thomas ends.

Jonathan’s love affair with Thomas began as a fascination. When Jonathan was a little more than two years old, we noticed that he wasn’t talking and had a tendency to line things up. Blocks, toy cars, even the pillows from the sofa would be lined up on our living room floor daily. This fascination with lining objects up along with a constant “hum” and “hand flapping” alerted us to the fact that Jonathan may be slightly autistic. Jonathan was diagnosed as such, but having been through a special preschool program, he will actually be attending a regular kindergarten class when the new school year begins this year. Anyway, this fascination with lining objects up has made trains Jonathan’s favorite toys with train stories his favorite to hear as well as train characters such as Thomas his favorite to watch.

Jonathan is so obsessed with Thomas that he has assigned everyone in our household a name of a character from his Thomas videos. Jonathan of course is Thomas the Tank Engine (the star of the show). His younger brother, Matthew, is a little engine named Percy (this makes sense because Percy is a slightly smaller steam engine). Jonathan’s baby brother, Stephen, is now referred to as Skarloey (again, this makes sense because Skarloey is an even smaller engine). Jonathan’s mom is now referred to as Emily, a feminine steam engine, who appears on some Thomas videos. And I, his dad, am referred to as Salty, a pleasant diesel engine who shunts freight cars down at the docks. Last year when our friends, Dennis and Cindy Conner were visiting, Jonathan kept talking about Gordon, the largest of the steam engines. We finally learned that because Dennis is such a large man, Jonathan had apparently and appropriately named him Gordon.

Everyday our home becomes the Island of Sodor in Jonathan’s mind and often Jonathan will function, solve problems, and relate to his family not as Jonathan but as Thomas the Tank Engine. I don’t know for sure if this imagination of his is enhanced by his autism, but I can’t help but to believe that it is.

I am writing about this because most of us have probably given some thought to what eternity will be like. And do we not envision that place with God in eternity as a “perfect” place? Well, in the mind of my son, the Island of Sodor, home to Thomas and Friends, is the perfect place. In that place, problems are solved simply; friends care for one another; and Sir Topham Hat, the owner and operator of the Sodor Railway, is always there to help, guide, and care for all the engines.

The Island of Sodor is not a place much different than other places or locations found in the pages of Children’s stories. In fact, in the stories that we read to our smallest children, the places almost always share the same characteristics no matter the story we read to them. Why? I don’t know for sure, but maybe children know that a friendly, familiar place is warm and secure. Perhaps, there is a longing for such a place in the minds of children. If so, imagine the longing that must exist in the minds of those children who are neglected and abused.

The Island of Sodor is most certainly a pleasant place. The steam engines come in all colors, but no color is favored (Galatians 3:28). The steam engines come in all sizes but the larger engines have no advantage over the smaller ones (Matthew 19:30). And except for Henry’s occasional “boiler-ache”, there’s not much sickness on Sodor (Revelation 21:4).

I have a growing sense that what Jonathan has is not so much a condition (autism) as it is a gift. Through the exercise of this gift, Jonathan is teaching me to long for eternity..... that perfect and pleasant place. Perhaps all children possess such a gift and perhaps that’s why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).