"Perfect"

ESPN's E:60 prides itself on reporting some of the best stories in sports. Last October, reporter Tom Rinaldi did just that in capturing a story called "Perfect," which ESPN describes as a "story of how the birth of a girl with Down Syndrome led to the re-birth of a man who thought he had everything until he discovered the joy of pursing Paisley." It really is good stuff.

What, I think, makes the following 14-minute documentary so good:

• Change: There is a deep longing in the human heart for change. Not to just do different things, but actually be different. Have new desires. To love something that we currently hate, and wish we didn't. To hate something that we currently love, and know we shouldn't. Something is profoundly wrong with the world, and I think in our honest moments we know that we ourselves are not too far removed from the cause. Something is profoundly wrong in our own hearts too. Pictures of change—especially when they're illustrated so well—move us.

• The love of a father: The affection the dad, Heath White, has for his daughter, Paisley, is contagious.

• The value of human life upheld in the face of weakness: In an ultimate sense, something isn't valuable because we, creatures, say its valuable. Something is valuable because God, the Creator, says it is. And he says that all humans—especially the ones that come with Down Syndrome—are made in his image and are thus worthy of life. Weakness then is never a good reason for murder. I realize that Paisley's mom doesn't articulate her "convictions" in the film (nor is ESPN attempting more than faithful documentation on that segment), but the picture is there nonetheless. And it's refreshing.

• Running: Like the context of many a great story, this one has running as a backdrop.

Perhaps the reason each of these narrative elements resonate so much is because each one finds a deep correspondence to an even better story, one that God is telling on the pages of the Bible and through the pages of history—the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the gospel, God works the greatest change the universe has ever seen in turning rebellious enemies into faithful friends. There has never been a people more opposed to a Person than humans are in their rebellion to God. And yet, through the cross event (read the Gospel of John for an excellent summary), God changes them. Haters turn into lovers. To those who trust him, he gives a new heart, with new desires, with new loves. The deepest, most lasting, most enjoyable change a person can experience is by becoming (as it were) a character in the story of the gospel!

What better story could be told?