"The question I started asking was, 'Is life just a lottery ticket, or is there some way that God will allow us some kind of vision or learning or choices so we can determine our own destiny?'" - Andy Andrews, author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Traveler's Gift" Like many stand up comics, Andy Andrews uses humor to work through the pain of a broken past. While still in his teens Andrews lost both of his parents, his home and his confidence, eventually sleeping under the boardwalk because he had no other place to go. But rather than accept the status quo, Andrews discovered what he calls the 'seven decisions' of a successful life. He incorporated those seven decisions into a book called "The Traveler's Gift" that was rejected by 51 publishers before becoming a NY Times bestseller. (r)Eviews - You went through some rough times, but you actually grew up in a stable loving environment. Andy Andrews - My dad was a Baptist minister of music. I grew up with love and certainty in my life, but Mom and Dad both died when I was still quite young. When my Mom died of cancer when I was 19, and my Dad was killed in a car accident soon after, I started asking questions, like 'Is life just a lottery ticket, or is there some way that God will allow us some kind of vision or learning or choices so we can determine our own destiny?' Of course being the financial genius that I was not, I quickly ran through the insurance money. When you get $2500 and you spend $2500 on a mobile home - well, first of all, what kind of mobile home do you get for $2500, and second, it never occurred to me that I would have to pay to put it someplace - so things went from bad to worse. I ended up literally homeless before 'homeless' was a word. (r)Eviews - Did you blame God? Andrews - I grew up hearing my Dad say, 'God will but a man after His own heart where He wants him to be.' And I said, 'Thanks a lot, God. You put me under a pier.' I was avoiding all sense of responsibility for any place that I had ended up. But I had access to books through the public library and I started reading. That was the one thing that changed everything. I read several hundred biographies. I wanted to know what it was about these godly, contented, influential people that they ended up successful, and I ended up in the gutter Did they just pull the right lottery ticket? Was it just the luck of the draw? I determined that if life was a lottery ticket, I might as well quit. But what if it was something that they did, something that they learned? I discovered that there were seven common denominators; seven things that each of these people had in their lives that made them successful. I cross-referenced them and wrote them down, and those were the seven things that I put in my life to start pulling myself out of those circumstances. I wanted to present the seven decisions in the form of a story about a family going through the toughest time in their life. The Dad gets to travel through time and meet seven historical figures who are also going through the toughest time in their lives. To get advice from someone who understands your situation is more important than getting advice from someone who lives in an ivory tower. (r)Eviews - Living under a pier isn't the place we normally expect to find the seed of success. What did you do to lift yourself out of despair? Andrews - The third decision is "I am a person of action." I had to make a decision to get out from under the pier, to get out from under the depression, and do something. To get off the couch is the first step toward success. The decision to be a person of action was the one I had to pay attention to in order to pull myself out of the circumstances. Believe it or not it is the principle that people pay the least attention to. We have a society that is gobbling down Prozac ® by the tons, and the first thing we tend to do is lie down on the couch and turn the television on. That's like a deer in the headlights saying 'Hit me.' God may feed the birds, but He doesn't throw the worms into their nests. The answers to life's problems do not come to the people with the remote control in their hands. As Christians we tend to say, 'We're having a hard time so we're just going to wait on God,' when most of the time God is waiting on us. If we don't get out it is tough for God to bless us. You may not know what to do or where to go, but the first step is to get out. Don't just sit in front of the TV. That is not God's vision for your life. God seems to work through other people, and unless you get out among them God has a hard time working for you. (r)Eviews - What was your big break? Andrews - I didn't have a "Big Break." Everything happened slowly, and that's a lot like life. The changes in our lives happen daily - but not in a day. I had lots of people tell me 'You're never gonna make it (as a comedian).' But I felt certain that this was God's will for my life. My Mom and Dad were really the only ones supporting my decision. My Daddy told me, 'If you are sure that God wants you to dig ditches for a living, just dig good ones and I'll bring my friends around and tell them, 'These are the ditches my son dug.' I decided to persist without exception. If God puts something in your heart, who are you to listen to the nay-sayers. You are totally in control of whether or not you listen. (r)Eviews - "The Traveler's Gift" is not your first book. Andrews - No, it was my 11th book, but it was the first one to explode. Good Morning America choose it as their book of the month, which is pretty surprising considering it's not the most conservative show on television, and I think that really launched it. The funny thing is, I couldn't get it published. I had written ten other books, and I considered this the best thing I had ever written, and no one would touch it. It took me three years, three literary agents and I got turned down by 51 different publishers before Thomas Nelson finally took a chance. (r)Eviews - Last words? Andrews - Let me tell you something that I truly believe about these seven decisions - they work every single time. They are principles, not just theories. Of course when you hear them you might be tempted to say, 'Yeah, well my granddaddy told me that.' And that's true. Your granddaddy did tell you, you just didn't pay attention. They work every time whether you know them or not. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and the ignorance of principle is no protection. The principle of gravity was working long before the apple fell on Newton's head. God's principles of personal success in life are not just about finances, but about success as a parent, as a friend, as a member of your community or church.