There is always more to the story than the headline, or what it seems like on the surface. So, we must look deeper. When we do, life becomes richer, and we gain an appreciation for life’s nuances.
One of the biggest moments in Pittsburgh sports is the Pirates Bill Mazeroski winning Game 7 of the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees with a homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning. However, if Pirates’ catcher Hal Smith’s doesn’t hit a clutch three-run homer in the eighth inning to put Pittsburgh ahead, 9-7, the story changes and Mazeroski’s feat might not have happened. Every success has a story that runs deeper than what we see at first glance.
It is more important today, than ever before, to understand the whole story, not just what is on the surface or in the headline. In a recent Columbia University study, 59 % of links shared to stories on social media are never opened. These stories are being forwarded and their presence on social media expanded, without people even clicking the link to see what the article is actually about.
There is always a story behind data. Or possibly the lack of data. That story is arguably more important than the data itself. Data is the lifeblood of any organization or business, but understanding and using it effectively can be challenging.
During World War II, fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes. The Allies studied the areas that were most hit by enemy fire. They sought to strengthen the most damaged parts of the planes to reduce the number that was shot down. A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out the possible reason certain areas of the planes weren’t covered in bullet holes, was those planes (shot in that area) did not return. This insight led to armor being re-enforced on the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes.
In my sales experience, customers rarely make purchasing decisions solely based on numbers. There has always been an element of storytelling to tie together facts and figures, then weave them into a narrative that communicates something meaningful. Stories allow information, sometimes complex, to resonate with the audience without overly technical explanations. Stories paint a picture and create an understanding. Sometimes data alone can be cold and blunt – “numbers don’t lie.” However, if we allow ourselves to take numbers at face value and not consider their context, we can miss their rightful account.
Every individual has a story within. There’s a reason behind who we are. Every individual goes through moments and experiences. We meet certain people who leave a mark on us. Those experiences and people can reappear, in positive or negative ways, later in our lives. Our stories are shaped by the countless events and interactions that impact our lives. I once read a sign that read: “Don’t judge one’s story by the chapter you walked in on.” Typically, we’re missing perspective. We don’t read the middle of a book or see just the middle of a movie and determine we know what’s going on. Hazel Gaynor, an English Author, quotes, “There is more to every photograph than what we see. More to the story than the one the camera captures on the plate. You have to look behind the picture to discover the truth.”
To non-believers, there are things about Christianity that are confusing or hard to accept as truth. The fundamental statement of Christianity is the Jesus Christ was born as the Son of God, then died, and rose from the dead for our salvation. If someone cannot believe this declaration, they will dismiss all of Christianity.
In ancient times, even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historical authenticity of Jesus. His baptism and crucifixion are two historical facts. Thousands of surviving ancient New Testament manuscripts, including the four Gospels, were written shortly after his death. They firmly attest that Jesus rose from the dead. The fact that the early Christians claimed this, and their claim didn’t quickly fall apart suggests that something extraordinary happened.
Jesus really did die on the cross and His grave really was empty on the third day after his death. Roman soldiers were effective at meting out death and were posted to guard the tomb, so the body could not have been stolen. The two Marys watched Jesus being put in the tomb and are recorded as the first witnesses to the resurrection. If the apostles were making up the resurrection, this isn’t the story they would have created as the testimony of a woman was not admissible in Jewish courts. Christianity’s early enemies also could have put an abrupt end to the movement by producing the corpse of Jesus, but they didn’t.
The apostles had little material incentive to lie. There was no worldly status to be gained at that time. They faced condemnation, persecution, banishment, even execution from their Jewish community. If the apostles were lying, the incentives for them to later retract, were huge. An apostle seeing other apostles being killed because of their faith would have been strongly tempted to recant.
Chuck Colson, the White House special counsel during the Watergate scandal uses Watergate to support the truth of the resurrection story: “Here were the 10 most powerful men in the United States. With all that power, and we couldn’t contain a lie for two weeks… Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand. There is no way the apostles, who were with Jesus at the time of the resurrection, could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection unless it were true.”
St. Paul was extremely disinclined to believe in a resurrected Jesus. He was a leader in persecuting Christians. He had nothing to gain from testifying to Jesus’ resurrection. He then becomes the greatest evangelist for the Christian faith and dies for it.
We live in a broken world. It can be difficult to understand what our family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues are walking through – let alone acquaintances or strangers. Little seems “fair” or makes sense if we leave God out of the picture. But when we keep a risen God at the center of our view, we remember that there is always so much more to the story. This present world is not all there is. There is so much more to the story!