David Senra

And so one thing that Charlie Munger says that I think is really important, he says, you know, anybody engaged in difficult work needs somebody they can organize their thoughts with.

That person should be somebody, you know, you like and admire and trust.

Some people do this with friends, coaches, therapists, some turn to religion.

And so Andre considers him a Christian, but he never felt that he was close to God.

He couldn't find the right church.

And one day he stumbles into this church with a pastor who doesn't want to be called a pastor, this guy named JP.

JP is going to be one of Andre's lifelong friends, somebody that will travel the world with Andre, and somebody Andre will talk to and call when he has difficult times in his life.

And this is the first time he meets him.

He insists that we call him JP.

He says he wants his church to feel unlike a church.

He wants it to feel like a home where friends gather.

He doesn't have any answers, he says.

He just happens to have read the Bible a few dozen times front to back and has some observations to share.

JP's church is the first one where I felt truly close to God.

And so they spend a lot of time together.

They have these long conversations.

Andre usually feels better after he talks to somebody.

He says it must be bizarre to have strangers think they know me and love me beyond reason, while others think they know me and resent me beyond reason, all while I'm a relative stranger to myself.

What makes it perverse, I tell him, is that it all revolves around tennis, and I hate tennis.

He has this conversation so many times in the book, and every time the person says, yeah, okay, but you don't actually hate tennis.