Mark T Whitten.com

I am recording little pieces of who I am for my posterity. I'm actually making history with my words.

"My brothers' anger scorched me; they made me work all day long in the vineyards, So I did not have time to care for my own vineyard, to...

[part 3] It took a fire. A force beyond my fear of the sea To wake me to the sea. And so we went With what children remained And walked...

[part 2] But plank and paddle found me, While I drifted towards the beach of a great wilderness. Upon landing parched And burnt, bearded...

[part 1] I left you. Some 14 years ago. To brave the sea and its wild hope. To colonize some portion That God owed me in my juvenile...

I began a new discipline a few years ago. At the beginning of each New Year, instead of making a list of Resolutions, I take some time to...

Facing the final quarter of the year may seem . But, it's actually good news! End of the Year Resolutions can be life-changing!

Mary Oliver rejected me. Well, sort-of. Fair use for poetry. Permissions for Mary Oliver poems. Copyright and poetry. Can I copy a poem

If you haven't seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, stop right now, pull up your amazon app and watch the whole thing, NOW! Okay, maybe...

I've always been a thief. A copier. An impersonator. A mimicker. Borrowing from one source, mining ideas from another, mashing them...

For centuries, our monastic brethren have offered their strength, intellect, and physical bodies to be available for God's use.  The most...

"Every major monastic movement decided at some point that it needed a rule of life by which to work, serve and live. The Augustinian Rule...

Vows can be an extremely powerful way to break negative cycles in our lives; they can also be employed as a catalyst for beginning new,...

The following is taken from an old blog I used to write. I feel that the statements below still hold invaluable truths that need to be...

Sun

Jesus got tired, hungry, thirsty, angry, and exasperated. He experienced loneliness, astonishment, disgust, and fatigue. He knew what...

As the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of God. ~Habakkuk 2:14 (The New Living Translation)...

"Can Jesus enjoy a joke at his own expense? If not, what kind of person is he?" (John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw p.21) Well...? Can he? ...

Jesus gives us permission to say no. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ (Matthew 5:37 NKJV) Even for churches this can be...