An Exciting Announcement!

I wrote a book recently.

It’s called Clearing the Path: Connecting with God in a Cluttered World, and I cannot wait to share it with you.

So that you can get a taste of it, and so that I can enjoy sharing bits and pieces of it with you, I will be releasing excerpts over the next several weeks before the full book is available (late summer 2023 on Amazon and other retail outlets).

Short excerpts will be posted on my Instagram account (be sure to follow me @nathan.westwick) and longer pieces will be posted here on my blog.

Real Change, Life Abundant, FaithNathan WestwickJune 6, 2023Book, Guides, Knowing Thyself, Offering Hope, Risk-Taking, Stepping OutComment

Why I Choose to Follow Jesus

I don’t have any compelling introductory paragraph to offer. I figure the title kind of speaks for itself, so let’s dive straight in:

Why do I choose to follow Jesus?

Well, let’s start this thought exercise at the gym…

How to Transform Our Communities

Alright, it’s time for a thought exercise. I want you to play along for a few minutes, if for no other reason than to humor me. If this weren’t in written form, I would ask you to close your eyes and visualize what I’m about to describe. But alas, we’ll give a little grace if you refuse to close your eyes for this one…

Ready?

Here goes:

Imagine you’re standing on an overlook, staring across a vast desert valley. In the distance, rugged mountains cradle the valley with strong and dry arms.

As you look at the valley floor, you see it covered with desert chaparral – dry, brittle brush that thirsts for heaven’s rain. Swaths of the desert floor are bare, showing the evidence of rivers that once flowed many ages ago.

Can you see it?

Can you smell it?

Can you feel the warm breeze press against your face?

True North (How to Find Perfect Peace)

“You shall have no other Gods before me.”

When I hear this first commandment, something in me is stirred; a stirring that speaks of something magnificent and weighty in its simplicity.

Something that says that if we could get that first commandment right, we might not need the other nine.

The Importance of Being Yourself

My oldest is in 8th grade, stuck right in the midst of the awkward middle school years. We all remember those times when we were convinced every single eye was on us every time we walked across a room, scrutinizing our gait, our hair, our clothes? (The irony here, of course, is that in actuality all attention is much more focused on themselves than on anyone else.)

But a core truth is still exposed in middle school; that the heart’s desire of every person is to find community, to fit in, and this is none more apparent than in those teenage years.

The Stuff That Matters, Real Change, Overcoming Fears, BusinessNathan WestwickSeptember 25, 2018Identity, Being RealComment

Why We Shouldn’t Take Shortcuts for Lent

With today marking not only Valentine’s Day, but also the start of Lent, it seemed like a good time to talk all things chocolate, love, and surrender. (OK, maybe not the cleanest of introductory sentences, but every blog must start somewhere, right?)

Now that the awkward intro is out of the way, let’s talk about Lent for a moment.

It’s a relatively new thing for me, as most evangelical churches don’t do a whole lot about the 40 days prior to Easter, so here’s a quick crash course in case your early experience with people practicing Lent was a bit like mine: Looking with strange glances at the girls in my class who were giving up sweets, like chocolate, carbs or some other silly thing, quite likely for weight loss, all under the guise of piety, or as we call it, Lent.

Do I Really Love God?

The question approached me like the subtlety of fall; you don’t really feel it coming, but suddenly it’s upon you.

Do I love God?

Which is a strange question to consider, given my nearly lifelong devotion…

Faith, Real Change, Loving GodNathan WestwickSeptember 20, 2016Loving God, Soul Searching Comments

I Have to Admit, This Makes Me Angry

I struggle with a lot of things, but I never would have pegged myself as an angry person. Those who know me would describe me as a pretty mellow, easy-going guy.

So all this time I’ve considered anger to be number seven on my personal list of deadly sins.

That is, until I heard someone say that anger is rooted in a dissatisfaction that things aren’t perfect.

Oh

Why Politicians Continue to Let Us Down

Election season.

Political signs on every corner, my mailbox stuffed with political propaganda, a list of presidential candidates that gets people from all political persuasions fired up out of fear, hatred, angst—all with an increased level of voter apathy among the younger generations.

Why such a furor?

I think it’s because we feel like we’re continually being let down by our elected officials. It can be due to shady morals, untrustworthy actions, or simply unfulfilled promises.

But is it possible that we get let down because we allow our hopes to get too high?

Real Change, LeadershipNathan WestwickJune 2, 2016Politics, Election SeasonComment

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