Accounting News and Notes

John Dillard CPA of HIS CPA PC is scheduled to speak on Monday, May 19th 2008 at

7 p.m. at the Christian Authors Guild.

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The Christian Authors Guild

www.christianauthorsguild.org

Sending out a Christian Wave upon a Secular Sea

The Christian Authors Guild is made up of more than 65 aspiring writers. Our members’ talents range from professional writers to those who write for the fun of it. We write in many different genres.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to glorify God within our individual arenas of influence, to provide encouragement for aspiring writers, and to share information that better equips members to disseminate Christian truths in their writing.

Meetings - Click here to be updated on upcoming meetings and events!

The Christian Authors Guild (CAG) meets at 7 P.M. on the first and third Mondays of each month. We meet in the fellowship hall, lower level, of  Prayer and Praise Christian Fellowship, at 6409 Bells Ferry Road, Woodstock, Georgia 30189 near the intersection of Eagle Drive. Visitors and prospective new members are welcome.

John Dillard CPA of HIS CPA is scheduled to speak on Wednesday May 21, 2008 at 12 p.m.

	About Us The Norcross Fellowship Luncheon (NFL) is a weekly luncheon that meets at 12:00 every Wednesday at the Golden Corral in Duluth, GA. The NFL’s mission is to provide a platform for Christian businessmen to share their story of how God has touched their lives both personally and professionally. The NFL has met every week since being started in September, 1985 by Larry Shrader and Heinz Wegener, and have had hundreds of businessmen share their testimonies. The NFL is not affiliated with any denomination or organization, has no membership, and has never taken an offering to support the meetings. Men and women from all denominations and those with no church affiliations attend. The meetings are geared to businessmen sharing their faith in Jesus Christ and how that works in the marketplace. NFL Goals: Provide a platform for Christian businessmen to share their story of how God has touched their lives. Create an environment where anyone will feel comfortable and will receive encouragement and help in their search to find purpose in life. Highlight other activities and organizations that can provide Christian training and discipleship.

Everyone has a different definition of recession but they all come down to one meaning:  A significant decline in economic activity over a period of a few months.  Most of the time, the decline comes after a peak in the economy.  Could it be that the real estate market was the Silicone Valley of 2008?  It seems that no one wants to actually say the word “recession” for fear that we might wake up and realize that we are already in one.  But if you look around you, listen to what people are talking about and saying, there are so many people in high-level positions who have lost their jobs and are desperately searching for something else.  In our area alone, we know of many who have found themselves in this situation and the numbers continue to grow.  People everywhere are losing their homes in foreclosures as they default on mortgages. 

As I write this, Bear Stearns, a well-known investment banking company, has had to turn to JP Morgan Chase & Co and the Federal Reserve Bank of NY for emergency funds to keep them afloat.  Bear Stearns plays a large role in debt markets, especially those securities backed by mortgages.  The Federal Reserve Bank supported the arrangement with JP Morgan and said that it would continue to provide the markets with liquidity as necessary.  They haven’t done this since the Great Depression.

For the same reason the government doesn’t use the word recession, I don’t like using it either as it seems to cause panic in otherwise rational people.  This is not the time to run out and sell all your stocks and other investments - it is the time to sit back and wait-be patient.  Things will get better but as with anything worthwhile, it takes time.  Sure it’s time to pull in your purse strings, watch what your spending, monitor your gas usage, save the expenditures for later, but it’s not a time for panic. 

This summer, our family has the unique opportunity to go to a Navajo Indian Reservation and serve as missionaries through our church.  We are very excited, not only about the opportunity so serve our church, but to serve God and be His hands and feet while building relationships with the Navajo people.  It will be a great experience to share God’s love with all the wonderful people there and the opportunity to do it as a family is a dream come true for all of us.

Pueblo Pintado is a Navajo Indian Reservation located in the NW corner of New Mexico.  It is a very desolate area and most of the residents live in poverty and most students rarely even graduate from high school.  While it may seem incomprehensible in the U.S., many of the homes do not have electricity or indoor plumbing.  There is a very high unemployment rate, which leads to a high rate of alcoholism, drug abuse and violent crimes.  With all that being said, they are a wonderful, warm, loving group of people who are so appreciative when we go out and spend a week with them just loving on them, giving them undivided attention and a safe lap to crawl into.  They are slow to trust and still hold strong to their native culture.

We will be there the week of July 12th - July 19th and hope to do vacation bible school for the children, adult bible study, construction, senior home care, sports camp, community nights and more.  We hope to spend the week demonstrating God’s love through our hard work and service to the Navajo people.

Of course, none of that is possible without financial and prayer support.  The trip is going to cost a little over $750.00 per person, which will cover all our travel, boarding and meal expenses.  We would be honored if you would consider helping us in our fundraising effort by giving of your financial support and/or prayer support.  Both of them are very much appreciated and without the support of wonderful friends and family like you, these trips just wouldn’t be possible.

Thank you for any help you can give us and for contributing in your own way to this wonderful mission!  If you would like to make a financial contribution, please send it to John Dillard, 1940 Woods River Lane, Duluth, GA 30097.  If paying by check, please make it out to Sugarloaf UMC.

In Him,

John Dillard

Sometimes we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we forget to make time for the things matter most…nourishing our soul.  If we don’t make time for God’s feeding of our hearts and minds, everything else suffers.  Some thoughts:- Neglecting devotions will cause you more problems, quicker, than just about anything you can think of. Spending unrushed time alone with God in His Word is like a fountain of refreshment being released from the core of your being.-  When people think of you, how you spend your time, and were to describe who you are by your habits, would one of those habits be your daily quiet time?  You can celebrate God in a crowd, but you can only get to know God one on One.-  Our daily times in the Word are not necessarily designed to produce theologians but they are designed to produce disciples.  The Word of God is food for your soul, before it’s fodder for your ideas.-  Enter the Bible daily and there will be a beautiful dusting of heaven on everything you do.  That is what will distinguish you from everyone else in the world, more than trimmings or trappings for those will only slow you down.

In our lives there will be times in life when we will be standing on the precipice life’s trials. Often the distance between victory and defeat will be the very slimmest of margins. In those moments we need God along our side guiding our every step. By passionately studying we learn that the God of the Old Testament, which I previously believed to be harsh, to be one of great love and compassion.  As tribulations reign down in our lives in ever cascading waves of terror we are forced to our knees in prayer to discover that the God we thought had forsaken us had never left our side. Just as the terrors fell on the fateful day of 9/11 so are our very lives, children, health, jobs, and marriages threatened as we strive to thrive in this world. By leaning on the very word of God through life’s fiery paths, we are able to gain the wisdom of the ages and needed strength to weather moments and seasons of life of excruciating pain.  By studying Job’s life, we are able to discover how to overcome life’s obstacles discovering that God has made a path or our escape and via our salvation guaranteed our ultimate destiny and reward. There is a reason to anticipate unexpected success and to continue on in great faith irrespective of might befall us.  Though we might all see ourselves as ordinary, God sees each and every one of us as anything but that. Each and every one of us is uniquely poised to overcome life with the power and majesty of our heavenly Father. Though we cannot choose our sufferings, we can choose the power of God in helping us overcome each and every trial. 

Super Tuesday is finally here. The largest primary ever with over twenty-four states voting with over 2600 plus total delegates combined to be determined. Super Tuesday will be, by far, the largest primary to date and may well ultimately determine who our next President will be. Over 52% of the Democratic delegates and 41% of the Republican delegates will be determined on Tuesday thus dramatically shaping who will be serving as our President for the next many years. Just the past two weeks we had several of the minor candidates dropping out allowing for both our ability to focus on just a few candidates to vote for and for the candidates themselves in determining as to who they might be running against. Though many pundits believe Huckabee to be a potential spoiler, I believe, absent a dramatic turn of events for the good, that he will also soon be dropping out of the race leaving it a “two horse” race on both the Democratic and Republican sides.

When casting your vote remember to consider:

-It is not a popularity contest. Read and understand the issues and where each candidate stands on those which are most important to you.

-Vote your conscience. What would God have you do. Pray over your options and who seems to have the best interest of the country and its people at stake.

-Evaluate each and every candidate as to who will be able to best stand the heat when things get tough. Consider who will be able to do what is right when it is not the popular choice. Remember your next president could perhaps run for re-election in four years and could well be your President for eight years.

-Contemplate whether your candidate will leave the country better off after he is elected than before while carefully evaluating their honesty, level of fiscal responsibility, and commitment to both domestic and international issues. A President of the 21st century is due to impact not only the U.S. at large but the world as a whole.

-Consider your candidate of choice able to weather the tough times and lead from ahead rather than shrinking behind advisers while still being humble enough to seek the wise counsel of others.

Our country, our lives, and the lives of our children depend on our choices today so on this Super Tuesday I believe all should start the day in prayer seeking God’s ultimate advice and counsel.

There is an upcoming bond issue concerning the Gwinnett County Schools on February 5th.  Many of us will be going to the pools to pick our presidential nominee and we need to get out the vote to continue SPLOST. This past November Gwinnett County Board of Education approved a calling for voters to evaluate a General Obligation Bond referendum on the upcoming Georgia Presidential Preference Primary. If it passes, Gwinnett voters will authorize the School Board to sell $750 million in tax-exempt, General Obligation Bonds. The repayment of the bonds will be paid off using the present personal property millage rates.

The Gwinnett County School system is facing a funding crisis and our school board is offering a direction to its voters to meet that crisis head on.  Voting yes on SPLOST will help keep Gwinnett’s school progress on track. Since July 1, 2007 thirty new schools have been built providing over 2000 new classrooms.

In the last decade, funding for the ever-expanding Gwinnett school age population has been met with both property taxes and monies from SPLOST.  But growth in Gwinnett county’s population has far exceeding the schools growth and the school board is suggesting the bond issue continue so that they can meet the demands of the growing population by constructing new schools and adding on to existing ones. To read more about the program visit www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us

Keeping this program in tact depends on you. Please vote to continue school funding with school bonds.  Our children’s education depends on it!

Although there has been a general lessening of the lack of rain in recent months, the drought continues and even worsens. To date no substantive proactive directions have been taken to both lessen the use of water, to plan for management of our present resources, and to set up procedures and policies in place to ensure that we do not ever find ourselves in this situation again. We need a public outcry from all citizens to contact their elected officials now to help them know we are not satisfied with our present situation and are determined to see that it does not happen again. We need policies today which stress the vitality and livelihood of people rather than mollusks. Though we always need to pay attention to special interest/need groups we should ever determine that the needs of a few will not outweigh the needs of many. Though we all have rights and valid expectations we should never expect those to be give up or surrendered to others without our consent or valid and wise discernment.

To stay abreast of Georgia’s lake levels you can visit the National Weather Service Forecast Service web site where at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/rrm.php There you can monitor and review lake levels which are updated every twenty four hours, full pool levels, rainfall in the areas listed. Though we often discuss oil as our biggest need and worry, if we were to be honest, we would soon find out that it is water. Also at the National Weather Service’s web-site you can find satellite and radar images, current forecast, and even articles on weather safety. For the sake of all and the continued economic viability of our region we need action today.

In the Democratic primary in South Carolina Obama won by an overwhelming majority over Senator Clinton by a 2:1 margin. Clinton hopefuls, who had originally fore-casted a Clinton victory soon fled the scene headed off to the state of Tennessee, where the next primary will be held soon. The Obama campaign seems to be gaining strength as his rhetoric has caused many to reminisce about a time gone by. I have caught myself being recently reminded as a result of his style and overall appeal of one of our greatest Presidents ever, John Kennedy. Evidently I am not the only one noticing as the polls seem to have recently swung in his favor as several in the Kennedy family, including Senator Ted Kennedy have recently indicated their support. If the Obama bandwagon continues this prognosticator picks him to win the Democratic nomination. Stay tuned.