a ritual.

Gen. 15:17-18

"When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying "To your offspring I give you this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates."

Not long ago I was having lunch with a friend and one topic of conversation, among others, was meaningful passages of scripture to us. This, a curious verse I thought, was one of his – so much so that he had aspirations to preach his very first sermon on this text, which he did this past Sunday morning.

Now you may ask, "Why this would be one's favorite verse from the Bible?" I did. It seems an odd selection. However, when you really dive into the context, the history, and what this meant for Abram (as well as ourselves), it then becomes much more of a fitting verse to choose.

In Gen 15, we find a humble servant of God expressing his doubts of God's faithfulness to deliver on certain promises He had made him. God offers to show Abram that He will pull through (not how or when, mind you), and asks the doubting servant to perform this sacrificial ritual which was a common oath-taking act in ancient mid-Eastern civilization.

Now a basic insight into the culture of ancient Hebrews: it was only the inferior of the two parties that would walk through this bloodied path. It was understood that it was gracious enough of the superior to simply have relationship or need of the inferior, and because of this, the former was not bound to the violent consequence of breaking such an oath. The inferior would then pass between the halved carcasses in symbolic fashion signifying that the result of breaking such an agreement for himself would be the same as that of the beasts on either side. (If they were peers or of equal socio-economic standing, then both would pass and be held responsible.)

With this insight, so much more weight can be placed on the mystical and divine journey of God down this path in verse 17. In humility, the glory of God descended to the level of Abram and bound Himself out of love and holiness to the covenant He promised. Secondly, we must also note that it was just as amazing that one who passed through it, did, as the one who should have, didn't. Interestingly, God doesn't expect any act or leave any responsibility to Abram, except to believe (which he did, "and it was credited to him as righteousness" // Romans 4:22). He takes all responsibility upon Himself.

I'll leave it to you to take what you want out of this little insight into history, but the action of God in this story is the crux of the matter (literally, and metaphorically) in all of history. Centuries later, the Son also offered Himself out of love and holiness to fulfill a duty and promise, this time taking the consequence of our breaking a standard. And once again, He leaves the same singular responsibility (or opportunity) to the nations (John 3:16).

a wedding of sorts

Actually just a wedding, not of sorts, as the title says... but it's more poetic to add in superfluous phrases like that.

Anyways, I had the incredible pleasure of attending one of my best friend's (and former roommate's) wedding tonight at a cool little spot in Titusville, FL called Birdsong. There's really nothing at all in Titusville except this, and a cool beach, and maybe the best flats fishing spot in America... but other than that, nada... well maybe that's not entirely true... I know a couple awesome people that live in Titusville or are from Titusville, etc...

But all that is not the point. One of my best buds, Sheriffe, got married to his beautiful bride there tonight, and it was just an awesome celebration watching them commit themselves to each other, dedicating their future to Christ, and beginning a new life together as one. It was a time of great friends, sharing great memories, enjoying great conversations... oh, and enjoying great food as well.

Myself and about 10 other guys threw a bachelor party for him the night before, played some indoor laser tag, and had an awesome time afterwards sharing and recalling fun times we've had together late into the night over a few beers at a vacant lakeside park in east Orlando. That was really good experience... getting to hear and share stories of the craziest, most exciting things we've done together to the most serious and heart to heart conversations we've had. This broad spectrum of events and categories defines who we've become as men, and seeing how this one man has had his piece in each of our lives and in different ways was a really cool thing to be apart of. It made me wonder what words would be said in a similar setting on the eve of my future wedding day... oh, there will definitely be a looooong list of stories of adventure, no doubt, but my hope is that I will be most remembered by the lives I've changed, the character I've displayed, and the passion in life with Christ that I've shared.

So we shared, offered up words of encouragement and challenge, and then wrapped it up with a water-side prayer time.... all this in the wake of the festivities to come the day after, today. The wedding was wonderful, and I am so excited to have seen these two friends grow over the past two+ years, and now to see them finally get married in an awesome celebration... that's pretty sweet.

Sheriffe and Kayla, congratulations my friends!

About Me... Kind of

Well it's been quite awhile since my last post...

Many things have happened over the last couple months. Big things. Little things. Inspiring things. Disappointing things. Exciting things. etc....

For readers who don't know me, this will serve as some sort of about me explanation. I have to write one for my personal website I'm developing currently, so this will serve as a brief duel-purpose bio.

My name is Evan Travelstead, and I'm finishing up my final term for my BFA in Graphic Design at UCF. A long road it has been, but the past five years have been the most amazing of my life thus far. So many adventures, so many highlights... maybe, I'll write a book one day on all these exciting happenings. Anyways, back to now. I just started as a designer/production artist for Ligonier Ministries, an organization dedicated to educating in the study of Reformed theology. This is exciting because I've accepted an offer to continue with them full-time, post graduation. My first 'real job' you could say. This is something that I just kind of fell into. I didn't even apply. They sought me out for this... never would have expected that.

I'm learning more and more God has a timing for everything. This new job seems to have absolutely perfect timing, but I guess that's just how God works. Although I'd really like to speed this timing up for other areas in life, I just ask everyday for patience and contentment.

Anyways, that was just a tangent on this about me thing. I also work as freelance designer under my unofficial company name, Aerostudio. I've been doing this for about 4 years now, have handled probably 60 clients by now, and hope to continue this on the side. I also work on the weekends as a youth sports photographer for Bishop Photo's Florida Team. Oh yeah, and I also work as team building instructor/manager for Outdoor Adventure's Challenge Course at UCF. This has been an incredible job, and I have logged nearly 400 hours of instructing leadership and team-building development courses for them over the past 3 years. It seems I work all over the place... kind of a workaholic actually... trying to change this though.

Next category would be hobbies I suppose, or interests. I'm pretty much into most everything. I know everybody says that, but it's true... aside from dancing (it's gonna take that perfect girl in the future to get me into that).... I'm not really much of a cook and not into old movies. That's actually all I can think of at the moment. Things I especially like though are sports (basketball is the fav), being an artist (design, film, motion graphics, photography, drawing, building) and definitely anything outdoor adventure related (fishing, climbing, kayaking, shooting, exploring).

Well that's all I have for now... NBA All-Star weekend events are on, and I definitely have to go watch those. I probably won't use barely any of this in my aforementioned website 'about me' section, but it was a good time to think. And for all the readers who I don't know but would love to meet, this can serve as some of brief self-portrait or background info.. haha. Maybe even an 'About Me' part II will follow soon.

Well then, who is John Galt?

A name. A mystery. An idea.

John Galt is the driving force behind the intricate plot line of Ayn Rand's masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged: a monolithic novel I've tackled in recent months. 2 reasons I've chosen to write about this... One: This book is timely; an allegorical and seemingly prophetic literature on the modern world, it's economic crisis, and the engines steering today's civilization. Two: the book is perhaps the most impressive and well-thought out insight I've read into 'worldly wisdom' and concerning this insight, I find it mildly revolting yet simultaneously inspiring. (And also a 3rd: I spent a month reading the 1450 page volume, so it seemed fitting to organize my thoughts on the novel.)

Atlas, in Greek mythology, was the primordial Titan, who upon the order and punishment of Zeus was given the duty to hold up the heavens for eternity. In the book, this metaphor is given to the industrialists, inventors, and major world players, who through their brilliant ideas or world-changing companies/products, control the outcome of world events and economy.

The rest of the world falls into 2 categories: 'looters' and 'moochers'. Looters are those that take by force whether by taxation, profit restriction, or piracy. Moochers are those that survive off the looters laws (the low class or poor that only survive from government benefits like Medicare, unemployment benefits, tax breaks, or government provided jobs), those that are given unmerited wealth (i.e. a college student without a job fully supported by inherited funds), or thieves of idea/product that make a competing but unoriginal/cheaper product (i.e. all the companies that make knock-off versions of the iPhone). A simple example: Steve Jobs would be one of the 25-50 modern day Atlas figures and probably 75% of America would fall into one of these other categories. The remaining 24.99% would be those giving their absolute best (and not relying on others' ideas or resources) to create and sustain successful business for themselves using their skills, maximized effort, creativity, and perseverance.

As a result of these unbalanced percentages, the world is falling apart. People want to take, but not give anything in return. People want jobs, but don't want to work. People want all sorts of things, but won't sacrifice to get them. People want to be in control, but not have responsibility. People don't want to solve problems, they expect others to give them the solution. The 'mind' of the general public has been lost.

So in the absence of 'mind' a glorification of reason, knowledge, and the will to act on these fill in the gap. The few have and exercise these are held supreme. Taking this line of thought further - this individual then becomes an end in and of himself, not the means to the ends of others, self-reliant, self-sustaining, and the result of his own will to be and act. This aforementioned knowledge is based on the metaphysical understanding of the objective absolute (that truth and reality exist regardless of whether you think they do or not) and your means to perceive it and reason from it. When it comes to applying his knowledge, man decides what he chooses to do, according to what he has learned, remembering that the basic principle of rational action in all aspects of existence, is "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." This means that man does not create reality and can achieve his values only by making decisions constant with the facts of reality.

Now those are huge statements, an entire philosophical perspective actually, termed objectivism. Depending on your worldview, that might give rise to multiple flags, echo some, or bring thought to question others. But what's interesting is that this is how most people think. There's a constant battle of 'for self' versus 'for others' (or Other). The differences lie in whether and how individuals act on it.

Overall, the book is a gripping novel that tells the story of John Galt's bold campaign to shut down society's engines of productivity by persuading the most productive innovators to withdraw their services. By doing so, he withdraws the 'mind' of man and leaves civilization to destroy itself. Without these leading men to rely on, all individuals are literally forced to create, to dream, to make a living, to be innovative, and to work in order to physically and mentally survive. This, in the end, ultimately saves civilization and delivers it from its economic, intellectual, and physical depressions. The story is a tribute to risk-taking, achievement, and individual liberty, and its conclusion affords optimism that mankind may, in real life, someday grow out of its long love affair with collectivist central planning.

So why is it important to think about these things? Or why is it not important? What category of people would you fit in? What patterns in your life show you which category you're actually pursuing? Should you apply this line of thought to certain areas of life? Should you withdraw it? How could this shape your view of yourself? How could this shape your view of others?

I think all of these ideas and questions from the author — with a grain of salt — are important to ponder. I think it can give great insight into setting priority, establishing work ethic, evaluating behavior, and planning for the future. A wise man once said when speaking of individual work ethic, "Go to the ant, you sluggard; observe its ways and be wise! It has no commander, overseer, or ruler, yet it prepares its food in the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. How long, you sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, and your poverty will come like a robber, and your need like an armed man. The one who is lazy becomes poor, but the one who is diligent becomes wealthy."

This quote, like Rand's book, can speak to so much more than just monetary wealth. It's worthy of thinking about, I think, in my humble opinion that is...

September

I haven't had much time to write, read, reflect, etc. over the last month or so. My life has been pretty much dominated by work, whether that be in the form of designing things, photography gigs, challenge course shifts, school, or any other random duties I somehow find myself committed to.

It's been a blessing though staying busy — not having to worry about finding reliable work — as it seems is the current trend among many others my age. It has been overwhelming and left me exhausted though, not going to lie. It's funny — I never realized growing up why my dad would come home from a full day in the office at Disney or on a project site and just want lay on the couch, eat dinner, watch tv, and then go bed. I now understand completely.

I don't mean to complain though because I truly am thankful God's given me so many outlets to do the large variety of things that I love to do, use the gifts He has given, and be able to make a living off of them. It's really wonderful, and I feel sorry for those that never get to make professions out of their passions or put the effort in to pursue their dreams.

Anyways, I thought I'd share just a glimpse of the projects I've been designing over the last month. It's just a small preview (probably 50%) of the different things I've been working on. Most of these have 4 or 5 pieces that go along with their marketing package, but you can get a general idea I think.

The Cosmic Number

A slight deviation from the typical in-depth thought-provoking material I often blog about: a riddle of sorts, a numbers game. I happened upon this logic puzzle on StumbleUpon tonight, which was a comical occurrence since I just offered this game several hours ago to some friends while waiting for a meal to be served at a local eatery.

The game is the cosmic number, and the number is 4. No, not 42 as Hitchhiker's would recommend, but 4. Now I know one could simply cheat and Google the answer, but what would be the fun in that?

The goal is to solve the problem of why it is 4, and for you to figure that out I will give 5 sequences of numbers.

100 is 10. 10 is 3. 3 is 5. 5 is 4. 4 is the cosmic number.

12 is 6. 6 is 3. 3 is 5. 5 is 4. 4 is the cosmic number.

11 however is also 6. 6 is 3. 3 is 5. 5 is 4. 4 is the cosmic number.

17 is 9. 9 is 4. 4 is the cosmic number.

And finally, 19 is 8. 8 is 5. 5 is 4. 4 is the cosmic number.

It appears to be easier when written out like this instead of spoken. It's more things to try and remember anyway. I remember the first time someone riddled this me it took forever to figure out, so best of luck to you! Message me if you think you've figured it out, but don't comment so as not to spoil it for the other 51ish people that stat-counter informs me read these entries.




Enjoy!

Training Day

This past week (plus the 2 to follow this one) I have participated in the annual Challenge Course training at Outdoor Adventure at UCF. Perhaps some readers may be unaware, but one of my many various jobs is the role as head facilitator for this specific ropes course (that title basically means a course manager or lead instructor). So this past week has been a fun, exhausting, and thought-provoking experience as I was now the performer of all the activities I so often instruct, becoming yet again the learner instead of the teacher.

The goal of this program is to train college organizations, business professionals, aspiring military personnel, and athletic teams to become more cohesive units through developing their leadership, communication, and team-building skills through various mental and physical challenges. It takes them out of their day-to-day mindset and puts them in a environment where they travel through a set of scenarios or activities (which they would most likely never do anywhere else) so they can see how they genuinely react to situations with their team, most likely out of their comfort zone. By offering them tasks that are unusual to perform, they gain a different and perhaps more genuine angle to see their (and their team members) strengths, weaknesses, comforts, fears, personality traits, etc.. It's then my job as the observer to quickly evaluate this and choose/manipulate activities to reinforce strengths and overcome weaknesses on personal and communal levels. After the course has been completed, we then analyze and process all the events of the day and relate/compare them to their daily responses to daily situations.

I don't know if I paint a good enough description for you to visualize what can happen to people's mindsets during our some of our program days, but the transformational perspectives people gain through them would blow your mind (it blows mine anyway). This is one thing I've come to significantly value: to see or help people overcome challenges, to understand others better, and to develop or encourage their strengths. I think most of my friends when asked to describe me would be quick to share with you that 2 of the things I'm most passionate about personally are 1, adventure, and 2, overcoming challenges. This position has tremendously reinforced both of those aspects in my life and helped me grow significantly in the 2+ years I've worked here. It has been a blessing indeed.

I simply have the most awesome staff to work with at OA, so to coin the phrase of our Argentinian director, "it was super cool" to reap the benefits of having this fun interactive learning experience with them. We often discussed together about working and living in areas apart from our comfort zone, taking risks, and how the steady challenging of ourselves through levels of ascending difficulty at work, at home, as students, as friends, etc. will keep us ever in the mindset of learning, growing, and maturing.

A good reminder for me, this was... inspiring even. "For we are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life." "Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself. Don't think of retiring from your mission to the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire."