“There’s a great story about the classical pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, which may or may not be true. Regardless, it helps us appreciate the Lord’s desire to accomplish His work through us.”
While the illustration may lose some of its emotional impact, initially, I don’t worry that my audience will be disillusioned or discouraged later when they learn about the story’s loose connection with reality.Get the details straight.An illustration can be true, yet quickly dissolve into a work of fiction if the details of the story aren’t correct. Don’t be satisfied with the way it’s told in someone’s book or a compilation of illustrations and quotes, and—for goodness sake—be careful with the Internet. Each person telling the story adds a little detail or shifts the context ever so slightly to make a point, and before you know it, the true story is far beyond the realm of truth!
I have seen various incarnations of a story about a young man whose prominent port-wine stain birthmark covered the side of his face. When asked how he could be so confident with such a prominent feature many would consider “disfiguring,” he replied, “My dad taught me, as far back as I can remember, that this part of my face was where an angel must have kissed me before I was ever born. He said to me, ‘Son, this marking was for Dad, so that I might know that you are mine. You have been marked out by God just to remind me that you’re my son.'”All through my young days, as I grew up, I was reminded by my dad, ‘You are the most important, special fellow on earth.'”To tell you the truth,” he said, “I got to where I felt sorry for people who didn’t have birthmarks across the sides of their faces!”This story appears in various forms, involving a variety of people, some even telling it in the first person. It’s a birthmark in one, a birth defect in another, a scar from birth complications in yet another. They all get the basic story right, but the variants might lead one to believe it was one of those nice stories that never really happened. Fortunately, I know for certain that it is true. The man was a fellow student I knew at Dallas Seminary…I was the one who asked how he could be so confident.Check your facts. It will take some extra time, but trace the story back to its source, and then weigh the source carefully. Try to find the original newspaper article, magazine story, interview, or even direct conversation with the people involved.Discover the deeper truth.The second illustration recalls the flight of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who climbed into a rocket and left the Earth’s atmosphere to become the first man in space. Upon his return to Earth, he was quoted as saying, “I looked and looked but I didn’t see God.” One Sunday, W.A. Criswell, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, remarked, “If he had stepped out of that space suit, he would have seen God!”
