the Travelers Gift Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Succe

The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews is a true spiritual fiction book. If your definition of spirituality does not need to include God, Jesus or any form of organized religion, you will enjoy this book. Although God is mentioned (and one of the characters in the story is an archangel), it is not absolutely crucial that you believe in Him in order to gain something from reading this. In fact, the Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success do not even mention God or religion. They are short, simple one sentence edicts that are very self-explanatory when you take a moment to reflect on them.

This book is about a man named David Ponder. At the beginning of the story David is in way over his head financially. The company that he works for has been struggling and things finally come to a head when David loses his job. Although his wife works and he does find a low paying job, his mortgage is past due, he has no savings and his credit cards are maxed out. On top of this, his daughter gets sick and needs an operation yet they have no health coverage. The last straw is when he is fired from his job after learning of his daughters illness and he feels he has nowhere left to turn.

As he gets into his car to leave the hardware store he had been working at, his thoughts are grim as he desperately racks his brain for a way out. He cant approach his parents or his in-laws as both had already helped out as much as they could. In his frustration, he chooses not to go directly home and face his family with the news. As he accelerates almost subconsciously, he begins to think that his family would be better off without him. His life insurance policy is still in force and that would allow his wife some time to find a good provider for her and their daughter. As he continues to accelerate, he hits a bridge covered with black ice, loses control and With his remaining conscious thought, David removed his hands from the steering wheel and raised them as fists to the sky. Please God! he cried. Why me? And thennothing. His car has spun out of control and crashed.

From this point on, David travels to seven different points of time in the past. These are not points in his past, they are from the past of mankind. At each destination, he meets one individual from history who leaves him with one of the Seven Decisions in writing. Each of them also gives him a valuable lesson to illustrate the importance of the decision in not only their own lives but also in the lives of others. The author uses well known historic incidents (the American Civil War, the Nazi Holocaust, World War II, etc.) and the well known characters associated with these events (Sir Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank, etc.) in his fiction tale which allows you to relate with the difficult decisions man has had to make in the past.

As happens in most fiction novels where the main character has a spiritual experience after an accident or incident (the concept isnt original), David returns to earth and sees how his life would have played out had he survived the accident. After he is given a glimpse of what his future could be like, he wakes up in the hospital injured but still alive. At this point he begins to wonder if his unearthly experiences were just a dream. As he is trying to remember everything that had happened and the seven decisions he had been taught, he finds something that proves it was no dream. Once this object is found, he knows that his life will be a success as long as he follows the guidance of the Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success.

It would be a simple matter to list the Seven Decisions (in total they comprise only 41 words) and write a brief interpretation of each. The purpose of a review, and the reason for reading in the first place, is to convince the reader that the book is (or isnt) worth reading. It is possible to skim through the book and pick out the Seven Decisions and read the page or two devoted to each one, however the enjoyment of the story itself would be lost. More importantly, the lessons that each past leader from history had to learn also need to be learned and reinforced for the reader.

I would strongly recommend The Travelers Gift for anyone interested in spirituality and self-improvement. It is not a difficult book to read, and each of the Seven Decisions can be highlighted for easy reference. They are also short enough to be written on a piece of paper and carried in your wallet or purse if you wanted to keep them with you. Andy Andrews (Im sure his first name MUST be Andrew) has done a great job of illustrating some fairly simple concepts that can be quite easily applied to anyones day to day life. There is also a free reading guide that can be downloaded from the publisher for individual or group use which will strengthen his teachings. Please enjoy the book if you choose to read it, and you may want to read some of Andy Andrews other books - The Lost Choice, The Heart Mender, The Butterfly Effect or The Young Travelers Gift among others.

Laughter and love,


Rick Fess

The Travelers Gift Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success
Author Andy Andrews
Thomas Nelson, Inc. www.thomasnelson.com www.andyandrews.com