Andrews was raised in Dothan, Alabama. His father was a minister of music and his mother played piano, organ, and directed the church's children’s choir programs. When Andrews was 19, he lost his mother (41) to cancer and his father (44) in an automobile accident within the span of a few months.[3] After the death of his parents, Andrews spent over a year homeless on the coast of Alabama, sleeping under the Gulf State Park Pier or an occasional garage.[3] During this time that he came up with the "seven decisions"[5] that eventually shaped the manuscript of his 2002 novel The Traveler’s Gift.