Deadline May 15! extended to May 31!

Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction announces its third annual juried poetry contest.

The grand prize winner will be awarded a $100.00 USD cash prize. Three runners up will receive $75.00 USD each. The top four selections will be published in the September, December, March, and June issues of Presence, respectively. A number of honorable mentions will also be selected for future publication.

Anyone may enter. However, there are a few simple guidelines to follow.

Spiritual Directors International executive director Liz Budd Ellmann wrote a story of hope and perseverance that appeared in the November 25 edition of the Seattle Times.

Soon a light rain hushed some of the scary night sounds. It threatened to dampen the pile of twigs and branches I had carefully collected to fuel the fire.

The drizzle became a downpour, and my fire began to suffer. I knelt with my ear to the wet ground and blew on the embers.

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Spiritual Directors International member Bruce W. Tallman sends these suggestions:

• In order to explain the way things are, nonbelievers ascribe God-like qualities to the universe. But scientists have determined that the universe is not infinite and eternal: it has a beginning (the Big Bang) and computer projections tell astrophysicists it will end.
• God's very nature is to exist. You need a First Cause of things, an Uncaused Cause that exists in itself, or you can go back in infinite regression asking "What caused that?" Monotheistic religion believes God caused the Big Bang.
• God's Creation is foundationally good. Evil is always only secondary, that is, a corruption of original goodness. Example: illness is a corruption of original health. Atheists have no good explanation of why, if there is no loving God, goodness is foundational.