Here's the truth: No matter what happened on the stage tonight, no matter where you went when you drove out of here, no matter where you end up, no matter what happens, what you become, what you gain, what you lose, whether you succeed or fail, stand or fall, no matter what you dip your hands into...no gone is too far gone. You can always come home. And when you do, you'll find me standing right here, arms wide, eyes searching for your return. I love you.

I would think about his name until after a while I could see the word as a shape, a vessel, and I would watch him liquefy and flow into it like cold molasses flowing out of the darkness into the vessel, until the jar stood full and motionless: a significant shape profoundly without life like an empty door frame; and then I would find that I had forgotten the name of the jar.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

God calls each and every star by name. It's not likely He has forgotten yours.

David is looking up into the immensity of God's creation, yet he still knows he has a relationship with the One who made the sun and the moon and the stars and the heavens. He's blown away by God's indirect answer. All this, yet God still cares for us. All this, yet the God of the universe still knows our names. All this, yet God has chosen us. He's made us his sons and daughters. He loves us. He cherishes us.

God's Word is the Truth. And His Truth says you are a holy and dearly loved child of your heavenly Father. You are wonderfully made. You are a treasure. You are beautiful. You are fully known by Him and lavishly loved by Him. You are chosen. You are special. You are set apart. No matter what you've done or what's been done to you, these words of God are true about you.

Overlooked by everyone, but handpicked

Overlooked by everyone, but handpicked by God.

I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. (Isa. 45:2—3)

Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor who doubts sometimes, has written that the reason so many babies keep being born is that God loves stories. Why

The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it.

Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free man -- it means "Beloved of God" -- and I insist people use it in speaking of and to me.