The differing yet consistent stories of Jesus

When I was a boy, someone stole a shotgun from a police car - and the only witnesses were kids who all described the thief very differently.  We use this as a sort of "negative" analogy and consider the four Gospels of Jesus and what we should think of their differing stories about Jesus, the way they differ in the order of events, and their somewhat different foci.  Is this a problem - or is this actually a good thing?