Every Other Monday: Twenty Years of Life, Lunch, Faith, and Friendship

Where do you go when the water rises? For more than twenty years, John Kasich has sought the answer to this question and many of life’s most fundamental challenges in an unlikely place: his twice-a-month lunches with an irreverent, thoughtful, and spirited circle of guys who are members of a Bible study group. Every other Monday over lunch at an Italian restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, Kasich and half a dozen friends use the stories of the Good Book as a launching pad to ask questions running the gamut from “Does God exist?” to “What do you do if faith fails you?” This group, in reaching for life’s biggest mysteries while standing firmly rooted in the everyday, has become a cornerstone of Kasich’s life, one to which he consistently turns when the waters threaten to rise. Every Other Monday is an honest look at how to build faith and find solace, even during the most heartbreaking circumstances, and offers a template for reconsidering how we make everyday choices as well as life-changing decisions. Along with rousing personal anecdotes and poignant memories, Kasich shares some of the group’s frank discussions on the major themes found in the Bible—and in our daily lives—such as: • CHARITY—How do you determine whether you’re giving enough (i.e., “the fatted calf” vs. “the skinny calf”) and why does it matter? • JUSTICE—How do you deal with frustration when justice doesn’t always happen here on earth? • ENVY—How do you absorb the inevitable disappointment when someone else gets the good fortune that you know was meant for you? • FORGIVENESS—What do you do when you encounter hurtful behavior? • AMBITION—How do you balance the demands of work and the material world while still growing spiritually? Every Other Monday is a refreshing and forthright account of one group’s search for answers and meaning. From rebuilding trust to understanding why we sometimes fail in matters of morality even when we know better, it lays out a practical path for finding strength and resilience through faith and friendship.