NSBIG

Many of you emailed or called to ask what the letters NSBIG stood for and as I promised it shall be revealed in a minute, but first the story.

NSBIG is an acronym for a group of strong words that were placed in my spirit early Saturday morning March 1, 2008. Rarely do I date my reflections within the body of the message, but to me this revelation and date has a special meaning. The words to NSBIG came about through two separate extremes that I experienced as I chaperoned my oldest daughter’s 6th grade class to CNN on Friday, February 29th. (Remember, this was in 2008). Since this date only comes around every four years the revelation received will always have a significant meaning to me. Also, this was my first field trip this year and it was like you would expect any trip with 80+ sixth graders to be – sometimes loud, but surprising very controlled. KIPP S. Fulton has a way of getting the kid’s attention with clap, clap “Ago” which means, May I have your attention? The kids respond with clap, clap “Amay” which means, Yes, you may - that’s Swahili. Okay, now back to the story – the 1st extreme.

After our tour of CNN the kids were excited about buying food from the food court; even though many nutritious bag lunches had been prepared the kids had their own money and were dying to spend it. In fact one charming young lady told me that money burns a hole in her pocket; I laughed to myself because I knew that life would teach her a valuable lesson sooner than she wants. As Ms. Thomas and I began splitting our sections to go into four separate ways the kids noticed what appeared to be a homeless man sitting alone. They began to make remarks and some even frowned up their faces in disgust – which made for a great opportunity for me to give them a mini life lesson that this person could one day be them. With a stern look on my face I turned to them and said that regardless of how a person may look everyone deserves to be treated with respect; I then led by example by placing my just purchased Chick-fil-A meal on his table as I passed by. As we looked around we noticed more “unfortunate” people and we began to bless them with the bag lunches that were left over. The following day, Saturday morning, while replaying this in my head I said to myself that I wished I’d left these gentlemen with some profound wisdom; something other than the usual “God bless you.” “God,” I said, “Should I find myself in a situation such as this, please tell me what to say that will bless their souls.”

Fast forward – the 2nd extreme.

As were standing in line preparing to leave CNN the kids started to go wild. What!?! What!?! I thought to myself. I turned to see what they were screaming about – it was Raven Symone looking GORGEOUS!! Raven was there to promote a movie, but she kindly walked over to our very loud group of screaming kids and chatted for a second. Before she left she squatted down in the middle to allow us to take pictures of her and the kids - the few minutes that she spared with them made a huge impact and impression – the kids were on Cloud Nine; some even cried.

That Saturday as I was replaying both, reflecting on the “two extremes” and the impact that both made on MY life my mind drifted to my request of God for profound words of wisdom that could be used should I find myself in the 1st extreme situation once again. Through one eye I saw the homeless man and through the other eye I saw Raven Symone. It was then that God drew both eyes together and simply said, in His still small voice, “Tell them NSBIG – Never Stop Believing in God.”

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