Who is this man, that he would walk the golf course with Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez as she played her last tournament as a touring professional? Why was he invited to spend an afternoon with General Norman Schwarzkopf and his son, who was about to depart for college? What would he be asked to discuss with a ninety-one-year-old Bob Hope alone by the swimming pool in the entertainer’s back yard?

Hailed by a New York Times writer as a ‘modern-day Will Rogers who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America,’ Andy Andrews is an internationally known speaker and novelist whose combined works have sold millions of copies worldwide. He has been received at the White House and has spoken at the request of four different United States presidents.

Andrews’best-selling book, The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success, is an international sensation, remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for four and a half months and being translated into nearly twenty languages. Featured on ABC’s Good Morning America as a book-of-the-month selection, The Traveler’s Gift is the stunning story of one man’s search for meaning and success in life by traveling back into time and conversing with seven historic individuals. Its message of hope, faith, and perseverance is transforming thousands of lives worldwide every day, spawning a teen version, The Young Traveler’s Gift; The Traveler’s Gift Journal; a home study audio program, Timeless Wisdom from the Traveler; and life-study curriculum’s in high schools, mental-health organizations, and prisons nationwide.

Andrews lived a relatively normal life until the age of nineteen, when both his parents died, his mother from cancer, his father in an automobile accident. ‘I took a bad situation and made it much worse,’ Andrews says with a rueful smile, referring to choices he made during this tragic period of his life. Within a span of several years, the young man found himself literally homeless (before that was even a word!’ he says), sleeping occasionally under a pier on the gulf coast or in someone’s garage.

It was at that time when Andrews asked the question that would focus his search for what would ultimately affect millions of people. The question? ‘Is life just a lottery ticket, or are there choices one can make to direct his future?’ To find the answer, he first went to the library. There, over time, he read more than two hundred biographies of great men and women. How did they become the people they were? he wondered. Were they simply born this way? Or were there decisions made at critical junctures in their lives that led to such success? The young Andrews finally determined that there were seven characteristics that each person had in common. ‘What will happen,’ he mused, ‘if I study these seven common denominators and harness them in my own life?