The fact that our children face challenges and pressures is not in dispute. Their response is not assured or given. However, we can do much to prepare them—church, family, and school functioning in community and grounded in a biblical worldview afford the best opportunity for necessary formation. 

My first car was one of Honda’s early US market entry models. It was a rather small, two-door car with a faux back seat and a tiny four-cylinder engine that was better served on a lawn mower than a four-speed manual transmission. It had natural air conditioning, an AM radio, and was powered by hand-cranked windows. The best part was that it could seemingly run for a month on $5 of gas, and it was mine—bought and paid for with newspaper route earnings.

I loved that little car. It afforded me a taste of freedom and responsibility that comes with ownership. Because of that little car, I learned to drive a stick—an increasingly rare skill. I also started listening to Paul Harvey’s radio show, The Rest of the Story.

If you aren’t familiar with it, Paul Harvey had a deep and distinctive voice. In his unique storytelling way, he would share background about a famous person or event, beginning with the obscure and moving toward the great reveal at the very end of the show. He famously ended each episode with… “and now you know the rest of the story.”

Besides contributing to my love of history, Harvey’s show unwittingly provides a bit of a biblical hermeneutic. Scripture is not exhaustive history. For example, about 600 years pass from the end of Malachi to the birth of Christ without comment. Reading scripture, we often encounter people mid-story. For example, we encounter Zacchaeus when he is already in the tree. We have sketchy details about the childhood of Jacob and Esau. John specifically states that Jesus did many signs and wonders that are not recorded in his book. Scripture is not a detailed history book—God did not design it that way.

Sometimes, however, Paul Harvey’s hermeneutic is helpful when reading scripture. We ought to ask and wonder about the “rest of the story.” In reading biblical accounts, the end is often obvious, but not what had previously transpired. Consider this illustration: Imagine you are walking through a field of rolling hills on a beautiful spring day. The wild flowers and tall grass sway in the wind, and you find a turtle sitting on a fence post. Clearly, that turtle had help—someone put him there. That is the rest of the story.

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