i've found, jim, oddly that the more i backslide, the less interested i am in sin and the more interested i am in Jesus. also, the doubts have ceased. except there is one thing i am concerned about jim, and thats another reason why i contacted you: ive been seeing a repetition of the numbers 1 4 and 7. everytime i check the clock, its those numbers but in different positions. its been this way for like two years, but ive always seemed to ignore it. now its kinda irritating me. any thoughts on this? thanks jim Justin

I love what you've realized about this so-called "backsliding"! :)

A repetition of the numbers 1, 4 and 7, eh? I've been very aware of numbers over my life time. Certain numbers have caught my attention. I've always tried to catch the odometer when it crosses a new threshold with all the zeros or all the same number.

A couple years ago a good friend of mine brought up a similar thing regarding the numbers 727 and 52. He was seeing them everywhere. He says he remembers seeing them for many years. He thought God was giving him some kind of insight about world affairs or something that was about to happen on a grand scale. He was so intense about it I just let it slide without pointing out some very logical reasons why. He and I were born on the exact same day. Two years ago we were both 52. That means we were born in 1952. We were both born July 27, 1952 ... 7/27/52. We had seen those numbers countless times over the past 52 years! :) Maybe that's why the numbers 2 and 7 were my favorite numbers growing up (of course, for years I thought it was just because I liked the way my 2's and 7's looked when I wrote them).

I'm not going to try to tell you that God couldn't possibly be trying to tell you something, but I suspect there's some other reason why those numbers catch your attention. I seriously doubt that EVERY time you look at a clock it is either 1:47, 4:17, 7:14 or 7:41. The most obvious thing to me about those numbers is that they come about twice a day every day ... and they come about at the exact same times every day ... and your mind is fully capable of registering the time without seeing a clock. I've been able to hit within 5 minutes of the actual time almost any time someone would ask me. I'm also able to drive the speed limit without a speedometer, at least I used to years ago when my speedometer was broken. My friend scoffed at me for suggesting it so he followed me and had me signal him when I would reach each different speed limit. When we got to our destination he verified what I already knew. You know what's really weird? I just looked at the clock next to my computer and it says 7:27! haha. But now it's 7:28. Just let me know if the clock ever reads 4:71 or 1:74!

I used to own a lawn-maintenance business (for 7 years). One of the tools I used for hours a day is the Green Machine string trimmer (aka, the weed whacker). Though I was all decked out with protective sunglasses and ear muffs I could still hear the whining little engine. Certain sounds came through more pronounced because of the muffling, and one thing I seemed to hear over and over again was someone calling my name. I remember telling that story to a guy and he suggested that it might be God and I should listen to it. I remember just looking at him without making much of a reaction because I didn't want to laugh in his face. I can't remember if I told him this or if I just thought it to myself, but I remember saying, "If God wants to tell me something he won't need the muffled sounds of a string trimmer!" There is no mystery to why I would hear my name being spoken when I was trimming with my Green Machine. It was the first thing I used when arriving at my customers' houses and it would trigger a response from a few of them so that they simply had to get my attention. The fact is that I EXPECTED to hear my name being called by someone who just had to delay my tight schedule because it happened all the time, and the muffled sounds of the Green Machine are incredibly similar to the human voice. The only voice I was avoiding was the nagging of a whining customer!! :) And yet, the first thing the religious mind is going to suggest is that I must be trying to avoid God. Why would I need God to speak in a muffled voice when he was simply blowing me away with real life and real truth in everything I was experiencing? :)

Anyhow, that was a fun memory. I hope it means something to you. :)

Jim