Of all the numerals, 13 is the only number that can spell out evil. It is often associated with bad omen and fearsome destruction. Its frightful significance is beyond any mathematical calculation and the negative energies that it perpetuates deep into our minds are never ending.
To the superstitious, number 13
is taboo, but to the skeptics it is just a number. I personally, have never
paid much attention to the number 13 except for the fact that it is the count
between 12 and 14. I have always looked at it that way --- until recently, something
really odd happened that stirred up my curiosity in search for logical
explanations to this so much feared number.
Is it a coincidence? A warning
perhaps, or is it a sign? These were the questions I asked when I came upon a
recurring number 13. It happened five times on the same day! What is the chance
of that happening?
It all began on a Sunday
afternoon at the Metro Convention Centre where a volleyball tournament was
taking place. I was there mainly to
watch my daughter play, but the action-packed hall was also a great opportunity
for sports photography. With balls flying back and forth between frog-like leaping
players, the shots were just too hard to resist!
During the elimination rounds,
every time the game was moved to another court, the ambient light would also
change. This lighting fluctuation would
also force me to adjust my shots accordingly, which also meant finding the
right camera exposure settings with at least three test- shots. These tests were
just random shots for my own analysis, but the resulting photos yielded the
unexpected. All the three exposures captured thought-provoking pictures of
number 13!
The first of the three was of a
player sporting the dreaded number on the back of her uniform. The next photo
was of another athlete also wearing the number 13. Hmmm. . . Coincidence?
maybe. But how do you explain the third shot? It was a scoreboard of the game
which read 2325. (23 in red for Team A and 25 in blue for Team B) The sum of
these four digits is 12, but strangely enough, next to number 5 is a water
bottle which can also be seen as number 1. The final total? A shocking 13!
In addition to this growing
phenomenon, during a break in the game, a player from my daughter’s team whom I
have never met before approached me to say hello. I would soon realize when the
game resumed that she too was wearing the number 13! Bizarre? Whatever you want
to call it, but this occurrence had me scratching my head in awe.
Finally, at the end of the
tournament, I thought I had enough of 13's for one day. I was wrong! The spooky
number was unrelenting and persistent. It seemed to have followed me,
determined to give me more of what it started.
That evening, while relaxing at
home, the mysterious number 13 unfolded once again. This time rather than
staying visual, it chose to verbalize itself. The voice of number 13 manifested
in the dialogue of the main character in the movie I was watching. It was about
a convicted Roman soldier from the 13th Legion who was thrown into
the arena of gladiators. He was tired of all the killings. He refused to fight
and just wished to die. But the other gladiators provoked him by mocking the 13th
Legion that he highly revered. Forced by the ignited anger, he unleashed his
terror on all his aggressors, annihilating all of them as he yelled,
“Thirteen!” numerous times, to bring honour to the 13th Legion.
Now, looking back to all five
incidents, it was like a game of connecting the dots. Clearly, whether all
these were just a mere coincidence or a meaningful message, there was
definitely a strange pattern that had taken shape. Is there a need to be afraid
from here on? What is the number 13 telling me? I wanted to know. The urgency
to understand the underlying message had prompted me to do some research.
Thanks to the internet. Google’s search engine has provided some substantial
views on the subject. One of them is a Christian interpretation which also made
perfect sense. Its spiritual value has been the key in unlocking the mystery of
the number 13.
It is quite liberating to know that the number
13 is of spiritual significance as opposed to what Satan had led us to believe.
At the Passover Meal (better known today as The Last Supper) in the midst of the
twelve disciples, Jesus was the 13th person in the room. He was also the One
destined to be crucified and to triumph over death with His resurrection.
Jesus is also referred to as the
Water of Life. Could this be the meaning of the bottled water standing next to
the volleyball scoreboard? I would like to believe that. What about the player
with the number 13 who came to me to say hello? I see that as a sign of connection. As long as
we keep our hearts wide open to Him, we will receive God’s whispers; we will
not be in the dark; we will see the path to where He is leading us.
It is mighty clear now why God
chose the volleyball game to illustrate His message. The sport’s aspect of
victory and defeat is a good analogy to Life and Death. Death as we know it
represents loss. It signifies full surrender. Life on the other hand is about
gain. It simply means winning. We live to learn from our failures as we strive
to win. As long as we can still breathe,
the chance of winning will always be there.
God does not want us to lose. It
breaks His heart to see us fail. But there are times when we are like that
Roman soldier. We are tempted to think that putting everything to a halt is the
easiest way to end our grief. We lose hope and we give up.
With God, we are winners. When we
fail, He strengthens us with our own weakness just like what He did with the
Roman soldier who could not resist defending his revered 13th
Legion. We too have our own 13th Legion and that is Jesus, the 13th
who led the 12 disciples. When we abide by His teachings, we become victorious.
And together we will say,
“Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!”
