Andrews - Andy Andrews 2 in 1 The Travelers Gift; Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success

PRAISE FOR Andy Andrews

The Travelers Gift effectively combines self-help with fiction... sustaining momentum while simultaneously passing on instructions for positive thinking... an exemplary job at providing positive suggestions for overcoming lifes obstacles... this is an author to watch.

Publishers Weekly

Andrews book will engage your mind and inspire your heart.

Hyrum W. Smith, Co-Chairman of the Board, Franklin Covey

Andy Andrews will challenge you to reach your fullest potential.

John C. Maxwell, Founder, The INJOY Group

This is the best inspirational book written since Og Mandino wrote The Greatest Miracle in the World.

Charlie T. Jones, Author of Life is Tremendous

The Travelers Gift touched me in a way no other book ever has.

Barbara Johnson, Humorist and Best-selling Author

Andy Andrews has done it again. This book will inspire you, touch your heart and soul, and change you in every way you desire!

Don Hobbs, Chairman and Cofounder, Hobbs & Herder Advertising

Andy Andrews wordsboth written and spokenare a significant and enduring presence in the lives of our Squadron Commanders around the world.

Michael W. Wooley, Lieutenant General, USAF Commander, Air Force Special Operations Command

T HE T RAVELERS G IFT

Mastering the
SEVEN DECISIONS
That Determine Personal Success

T HE T RAVELERS G IFT
Seven Decisions That
Determine Personal Success

Mastering the
S EVEN
D ECISIONS
That Determine Personal Success
An Owners Manual to the New York Times Bestseller
The Travelers Gift

Andy Andrews

CONTACT ANDY

To book Andy for corporate events, call
(800) 726-ANDY (2639)

For more information, go to
WWW. A NDY A NDREWS.COM

The Travelers Gift 2002 by Andy Andrews
Mastering the Seven Decisions 2008 by Andy Andrews

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from The Holy Bible, KING JAMES VERSION.

Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

ISBN 978-0-8499-4679-0
ISBN 978-0-7852-6428-6 (Travelers Gift hc)
ISBN 978-0-7852-7322-6 (Travelers Gift sc)
ISBN 978-0-8499-4679-0 (Travelers Gift special edition)
ISBN 978-0-7852-6141-4 (Mastering the Seven Decisons hc)

CIP information on file with publisher. Available upon request.

Printed in the United States of America

09 10 11 12 13 LBM 5 4 3 2 1

T HE T RAVELERS G IFT

Dedicated to
Robert D. Smith,
a champion
and the inspiration
for this book

In great deed, something abides. On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass, bodies disappear but spirits linger to consecrate ground for the vision place of the soul. And reverent men and women from afar and generations that know us not and that we know not of, shall come here to ponder and to dream and the power of the vision shall pass into their souls.

J OSHUA L AWRENCE C HAMBERLAIN, 18281914

CONTENTS

HEADLIGHTS SWEPT THE HOUSE AS THE TAXI TURNED out of the driveway. David Ponder stood alone on his front lawn looking at the home where he and his wife, Ellen, had lived for more than twenty years. David lowered himself onto the grass. Nausea poured over him as he felt panic enter his very soul. Like a serpent easing up his spine and wrapping itself around his throat, it wasnt a quick, devastating attack, but a slow, gripping realization that life, as he knew it, was over. He was forty-six years old. He had no job. He had no money. He had no purpose.

A short time later, David stood in the doorway of his daughters room. It had literally been a month since hed seen her awake. Lately, his work schedule had been frantic. As a last-ditch effort to save his employer from takeover, he often left home before daylight and rarely returned until well after his family had gone to bed. Several times during the past few weeks, he had not come home at all.

David gently placed his briefcase next to the dresser and moved toward the bed. His only childs breathing seemed loud in the quiet room. Sinking to his knees, David reached out to stroke her hair. It was so soft. The Cinderella nightlight shed cherished since her fourth Christmas cast an angelic glow on her perfect face. Jennifer Christine Ponder.My little Jenny, he murmured. David remembered the very moment she had been born... twelve years ago today. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand: 2:18 A.M. Okay, he thought disgustedly, so it was twelve years ago yesterday. A tear slipped down his cheek.

David? It was Ellen. Moving into the room, she touched his shoulder. I thought I heard you come in. Is everything all right?

David looked up into his wifes face. Her hair was a mess from sleeping, and of course, she had on no makeup. She wore a long white T-shirt that contrasted with her medium-length dark hair. Her brown eyes were sleepy, but she was as beautiful to him as the day they had met twenty-five years ago.

Ellen knelt beside her husband. With her fingers, she brushed the hair from his forehead.

David, she said again, are you all right?

He took her hand in both of his, brought it to his lips, and said simply, No.

At 5:00 A.M., Ellen lay asleep on her side with her head on Davids chest. David was on his back, wondering how she could possibly sleep. He wasnt sure if hed ever sleep again. For almost two hours, hed told Ellen everything that had happened that evening.

Late that afternoon, David and a team of management personnel had gathered in the executive conference room. By five, they had begun working the phones, feverishly soliciting stockholder support. It was a desperate, lastditch attempt to prevent a hostile buyout by a predatory conglomerate. Final notice reached the conference room shortly before midnight. Despite their best effortstears, pleas, prayers, and cursesthe takeover had been completed. All executive and supervisory positions at the plant were terminated effective immediately.

A security guard had entered Davids office less than fifteen minutes after the phone call and offered to help clean out his desk. Within the hour, David was at the guard house near the plant entrance, waiting for a taxi. After twenty-three years of service, David had been asked to relinquish the key to his office, the key to the gym, and the key to his company car.