"THE YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP" Book Series by Neta Jackson

I just finished BOOK FIVE of the YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP book series. LOVE IT! If you haven't read or even heard of this series, you gotta check 'em out!

BOOK ONE introduces us to these women as they are grouped together at a women's conference. This group couldn't be more different - Jodi, a school teacher and Avis, her friend/principle/worship leader at their church; an ex-drug addict; a Messianic Jew; a hispanic nurse; a single mom from Jamaica; a young Japanese student, and various others. When a family crisis arises for one of them, they decide to keep in touch and keep praying for each other. From that moment on, their friendship evolves and grows as their lives become intertwined. The books are written from the point of view of one of the characters - Jodi Baxter. She's a "good girl Christian" who doesn't think she has much in common with any one of them. When she faces a major crisis that makes her question her "goodness", her Yada Yada sisters help her to remember that she has ALWAYS been a sinner...saved by grace.

BOOKS TWO, THREE and FOUR continue the adventures with everything from a heroin addict barging into one of their prayer meetings and holding them up at knife-point, to one of the husbands being brutally attacked by white supremacists, to one of the older women going through a high risk unplanned pregnancy. Each woman has her own story and you feel intimately involved with each life.

These books show a beautiful picture of what "the Church" should be - supportive of each other and totally honest with God. The characters take turns lifting each other up when one is down, and since Jodi is narrating it, you get to hear her most honest thoughts and feelings, and how she brings those feelings before God for direction - and sometimes, correction.

The biggest thing I gleaned from these books is - believe it or not - the Word of God. The books are full of scripture! The women speak the Word of God to each other as they pray and also to encourage each other. The way the author uses the bible in these books is a great lesson. After reading them, I began to "pray" the Word of God in my own life and found it really powerful. After all, If we believe that the Word of God is alive and powerful, able to discern your heart's intents and able to divide spirit from soul, then what could be more powerful than praying those very words? I started memorizing bits of psalms and found that most of the time, they perfectly describe what I am going through.

This is not to say that these bible-quoting characters are "holier than thou" - on the contrary! These ladies are so real - I could totally relate to them. They work at their walk with God and struggle in doing the right thing much of the time.

BOOK SIX will be coming out in the Spring of 2007 and I'm totally excited to read it! The YADA YADA Book Series gets a "LOVE IT AND RECOMMEND IT!" rating from me!

DERAILED (R) with Jennifer Aniston & Clive Owen (2005)

PLOT SUMMARY: Charles is in a rut with his his distant marriage, sick daughter and lackluster career. He meets the lovely Lucinda on the train and they are immediately attracted to each other. They begin to see each other and eventually end up in a hotel, headed towards an affair. Suddenly, their plans are "derailed" when a thief breaks into the room and beats Charles and rapes Lucinda. They are reluctant to go to the police due to the nature of their relationship, Soon, the thief starts to harrass and demand things from Charles, and thus the roller coaster begins.

MY REVIEW: I really liked this movie! It was suspensful and exciting. The twists and turns kept you guessing til the end. Jennifer Aniston was great - not the usual "Rachelesque" character that we see in her various other movies. Clive Owen was good, his character not entirely likeable, which is ok, because I dont think you're supposed to like him too much anyway. He doesn't really derserve any sympathy for his plight, but still, I had to feel just a little sorry for him. The "bad guy", played by Vincent Cassel (who you may recognize from Ocean's Twelve) was great. Very hateable! Put this DVD in your collection right between Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful (yeah, I know thats not alphabetical, but it's dramatic, isn't it?)

"HOUSE" by Frank E. Peretti & Ted DeKker

My favorite two authors...Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker...TOGETHER!

I just finished "House" by these two and it really pains me to admit that I was not as thrilled as I thought I'd be.

The story immediately sucked me in. I was scared and kinda creeped out as the story unfolded. The first half kept me turning pages and I kept trying to guess what was REALLY going on. Would it be supernatural (like Peretti's "This Present Darkness")? Or would there be a logical-but-still-spiritual explanation (like Dekker's "Three")? However, at a certain point in the story, I began to feel exhausted by the repetitiveness. They ran and hid, and then they ran and hid some more...

With all this running and hiding it seemed a little confusing when BAM! out of the blue, the "answer" to the problem is revealed. While I don't want to give the story away, it seemed like perhaps the characters, who were not "Christians", understood it too easily. You'd think they would need a little more explanation to fully understand what needed to be done. More build-up to the climax, if you will. Furthermore, I didn't find the "redeemer" all that likable, so it was hard to reconcile that with the ending.

Maybe my expectations were too high for this collaborative effort. Maybe I had preconceived notions that ruined it for me. I admit that I was expecting a story about a "house" that ended up being the story of what was inside a person - ("Lord, I'll let you clean out this room where I keep my gossiping tongue, but I wont let you in this cob-web-filled room where the bitterness monster lives).

Like I say, these two authors are my favorites. I do look forward to any future works they create, whether it's individually, or as a team. I give "House" a "so-so" rating.