Every Other Monday, by John Kasich: on Principles & Values

John Kasich: Belonged to Bible study group for 20 years

Where do you go when the water rises?

It's a central question, don't you think? How we answer it says a great deal about our faith in ourselves. In one another. In God. And where we look for that answer says a lot, too. I've been thinking about this kind of stuff for many years. I think about it, and I talk it through. In fact, some of the people around me recognize that my faith and my search for meaning are such huge aspects of my life that they've been on me to write about them.

I'd belonged to a pretty serious Bible study group for the past 20 or so years. Here was a chance to shine light on one value in particular--faith. I could take on these big, grand, imposing topics such as God and the scriptures and make them a little more accessible, a little more real.

John Kasich: I find God every other Monday

Faith, that's what it comes down to. The lessons of the Bible. The insights we draw from one another. In our group, we look to the stories of the Bible as a kind of road map for how to live.

I'm afraid I don't find God in ritual and worship. He's with me wherever I happen to be. I go to church because that's what you do. I find God in the stories of the Bible, in the random acts of kindness I see every day, in the choices I make and the ways I interact.

I find God every other Monday, over lunch with my Bible study guys. We meet every two weeks, to go through these motions in a semistructured way, but I try to do a little bit of it every day. Fifteen minutes--that's the timer I set aside for prayer and reflection, day in and day out.

John Kasich: Learned faith via pastor dying of cancer

His faith made a big impression, because it was the first time I'd seen such conviction on full display. I'd heard about this type of thing. I'd read about it. And here it was, in all its splendor & glory. Here was this man, with a great mind, finding peace and comfort and surety in knowing that his pain was merely a trial he was meant to endure. And knowing full well that he would endure it. It opened my eyes, and the scales fell from them. It was shocking. Amazing. And ultimately transformative.

Still, that kind of faith was elusive to me then. I drifted away from religion as a young adult. Then I looked up one day, and there was a huge hole in my life where God & religion had been

John Kasich: Sought God after parents' death in car crash

I wanted to know if this "God thing" was real. For several years, some of my Washington friends had been trying to get me to attend their weekly Bible study reform group, and I'd always resisted. The last thing I wanted was to sit in a chapel with a group of politicians talking about God, because I worried we'd say one thing in there and then go back out and do the exact opposite. But when I returned to Washington after my parents' death and tried to cobble my life back together, I started to look on this group as a possible lifeline. I was devastated, shattered, and desperate for any tether.

John Kasich: Living life of faith can be a liberating thing

Lately, what we've come up with is this: when you live a life of faith, it can be a liberating thing. Faith is a freeing principle. We tend to think of these memorable, transformative characters in the Bible as having special powers, but we don't really know that. We just know that they were men and women of great faith. And we also know this: faith enables you to hold on loosely without letting go.

Faith reminds us that the first innings of this ball game will be played out here on earth, but we'll finish the game in the next life. We can go at it with some perspective, knowing that the whole game doesn't play out here.

John Kasich: Biblical manifesto: old law is gone; have faith in God

[My pastor] broke it down for us with a neat little checklist, culled from Romans, chapter 12:
1. Dedicate yourself to clean and active Christian living
2. Have your values, goals, and interests adjusted to the will of God, rather than to what society promotes
3. Exhibit humility, produced by faith
4. Use your abilities in a gracious manner for the good of all
5. Develop a strong distaste within yourself for whatever you know to be wrong, and hold tenaciously to whatever you know to be right and good
6. Care deeply about the welfare of others
7. Serve God
8. Hang in there in unpleasant, difficult times
9. Be generous and friendly
10. Be good to persons who treat you badly
11. Identify with other people's circumstances
12. Be humble, and associate with humble people
13. Don't retaliate
14. Be agreeable, not argumentative.

John Kasich: Objective moral values have existed since Creation

With Ted, when he tells you he's getting back to basics, he mean all the way back to basics. He even wrote them down for me on a sheet of paper I ne keep tacked above my desk at home for ready reference.

Here's what he wrote:

"There is firm evidence that the universe had a beginning, therefore it had a cause.

We do have sufficient evidence regarding God as the foundation for faith. We don't have proof, we have evidence.

If God does not exist, life is futile. If God does exist. Then life is meaningful.

Faith is a choice.

Objective moral values have existed since Creation."

Here--no surprise--Ted told me to go back to my very basic beliefs, so that's what I did.

John Kasich: Hosted Fox News program "Heartland with John Kasich"

A couple of the guys pointed out that I used to complain about my role at Fox News, where I hosted a Saturday night program called "Heartland with John Kasich."

One member said, "That was always such a big thing with you, John. Did you win the rating? Were you #1?"

"You're right," I said, knowing I was beat. "It just killed me to lose to someone else. But that's not really envy. That's more like whining. I never once woke up in the morning and found myself wishing I was one of those other guys on the air. That's never been the case."

"That's just semantics, John," another member weighed in. "Whining is just a symptom of envy."

"That could be," I agreed. "But I'm not in any way, shape, or form trying to put myself up there as perfect."

New Testament: Romans 12 manifesto: old law is gone; have faith in God

[My pastor] broke it down for us with a neat little checklist, culled from Romans, chapter 12:
1. Dedicate yourself to clean and active Christian living
2. Have your values, goals, and interests adjusted to the will of God, rather than to what society promotes
3. Exhibit humility, produced by faith
4. Use your abilities in a gracious manner for the good of all
5. Develop a strong distaste within yourself for whatever you know to be wrong, and hold tenaciously to whatever you know to be right and good
6. Care deeply about the welfare of others
7. Serve God
8. Hang in there in unpleasant, difficult times
9. Be generous and friendly
10. Be good to persons who treat you badly
11. Identify with other people's circumstances
12. Be humble, and associate with humble people
13. Don't retaliate
14. Be agreeable, not argumentative.