Drive Thru History Giveaway Winners by Ashley Ramsey on 05/18/2009 at 4:39 PM

We had 123 entries for the Drive Thru History giveaway contest. Whew! That was a lot of reading. I felt like I was actually in history class. Some of our contestants really poured their hearts out, other really poured it on and then there were some that just didn't get it. (They thought the contest was a random drawing so their entries just read "Thanks!" which didn't get them a Drive Thru History set but it sure did make me laugh.)

Thanks for all the entries. It was a pleasure to read about your experiences. Unfortunately I could only pick five of you. And here they are: Elaine, Liz, Tami, Jon Coffman, and Joy in Chicago. Congratulations!

Elaine (4):

Modern history came alive to me while talking to my grandparents about growing up during the Great Depression and their early marriage during WWII. Both are fantastic story tellers and remember so much.

Ancient history came alive to me when I had to teach it to my sixth grade class. One of my students had Drive Thru History and my husband and I watched it to research the ancient world. I had never made connections between cities and events and the Bible.

I would love to have a set for to leave for the school because this is my last year to teach. We've start our family and the baby's due Sunday.

Liz (10):

I went on a mission trip to Poland my senior year of high school. While our group was there, we had the sober opportunity to visit Auschwitz, one of the main concentration camps used during the Holocaust.

I will never forget looking at the incinerators, the thousands of pairs of reading glasses left behind, the tiny children's shoes that were taken, and the locks of shaven hair, realizing that the Holocaust was indeed, a real event. Thousands of children were torn from their families, only to die in loneliness and fear because of their lineage. That single trip to Auschwitz was life changing for me, as I recognized the horrific lengths that sin can lead an individual to follow. I was also reminded, to an even greater degree, of the value of each and every human life, created in the image of God.

As I walked through the halls and across the grounds of that concentration camp over ten years ago, I realized that the Holocaust was not just some story written for a moral lesson or education. The torture in that camp was real, and the responsibility of Christians to protect human life is mandated. Reflecting upon the needless death of so many men, women and children, history made itself very much alive that day at Auschwitz — and left me with a memory that I hope never fades.

Tami (15):

I grew up visiting historic sites all over the United States — native sites in Arizona, California Missions, the Hoover Dam, Mount Vernon, Cape Canaveral, West Point, houses owned by the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts ... the list goes on. I read many, many a plaque and roadway marker. (And judging by old family stories, I think that might have been how I *learned* to read!). I'm also certain that this awareness of history prompted me to become a history major in college.

It was then that a book brought history to life for me, in a unique and very memorable way. That book: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.

My church situation, growing up, was dry. The church was focused on "bigger, better, newer," yet there wasn't much sense of God's presence and transforming power. As I got older, I sensed there was much more to the Christian life, and I yearned for unity and deeper community. As a junior in college, I took a course in the history of Christianity, and a Kempis' book was on the reading list. I had never read anything like it; a Kempis wrote of sincere devotion to the Lord, keeping near to Him, and weighing one's own thoughts, attitudes, and actions carefully. My eyes were thus opened to those who lived in Christ before me, and I came to recognize that I had spiritual "brothers and sisters". Through this experience, my desire to read the Bible devotionally increased, and I also got a better sense of the community of saints throughout time. So you could say, in a sense, pre-Reformation writings were the catalyst for my own personal reformation!

Jon Coffman (59):

History bored me in high school. It was dry. I discovered Steven Ambrose and his books (like Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, and the like) that I really began to enjoy reading history (or listening to it on books on tape). So much history, and it seemed so boring in high school! But with story tellers like Ambrose, David McCullough (wrote John Adams and 1776), Kenneth Davis (Don't know much about history), history came alive. History is story telling, and there are some great stories out there.

Joy in Chicago (121):

As an Orlando native, I had a keen sense of the fantastical but not necessarily the historic. Hundreds of visits to Disney World had armed me with a wonderful imagination, yet I struggled to view history as more than mere stories and legends. In particular, I struggled to understand how the Bible related to the rest of world history, which was extremely frustrating to me as this was the very history God wanted us to understand!

In summer 2006, I spent 5 life-changing weeks on an archaeological dig and tour of Israel. There were so many incredible moments: standing on the shore of Galilee where Jesus called his disciples, hiking through Ein Gedi where David hid from Saul, passing by the same gate in Dan that Abraham passed on his way from Ur, praying at the Wailing Wall, walking through the field where David fought Goliath, standing in the tomb where Jesus' body was laid, looking at Peter's house in Capernaum, walking past the steps of the Second Temple where Jesus overturned the moneychangers' tables, and countless others. How incredible it is to be able to read the Bible now and say, "I've been there!"

But nothing brought history alive to me like digging at Tel-Gezer, one of King Solomon's cities. I literally got to brush away the sands of time and unearth the past. Although it was thrilling to hear the archaeologists discuss the origins of the pottery and other relics we found, nothing compared to when I personally discovered a 3000-year-old chalice while digging in the temple area! There I was, after 5 weeks of seeing some of the most important sites in history, holding a chalice from the time of King David that I had discovered on my own — not in some museum, but with a pick ax! That find landed me on the front cover of the January/February issue of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, making me a part of history!

Drive Thru History Giveaway Winners by Ashley Ramsey on 05/18/2009 at 4:39 PM

We had 123 entries for the Drive Thru History giveaway contest. Whew! That was a lot of reading. I felt like I was actually in history class. Some of our contestants really poured their hearts out, other really poured it on and then there were some that just didn't get it. (They thought the contest was a random drawing so their entries just read "Thanks!" which didn't get them a Drive Thru History set but it sure did make me laugh.)

Thanks for all the entries. It was a pleasure to read about your experiences. Unfortunately I could only pick five of you. And here they are: Elaine, Liz, Tami, Jon Coffman, and Joy in Chicago. Congratulations!

Elaine (4):

Modern history came alive to me while talking to my grandparents about growing up during the Great Depression and their early marriage during WWII. Both are fantastic story tellers and remember so much.

Ancient history came alive to me when I had to teach it to my sixth grade class. One of my students had Drive Thru History and my husband and I watched it to research the ancient world. I had never made connections between cities and events and the Bible.

I would love to have a set for to leave for the school because this is my last year to teach. We've start our family and the baby's due Sunday.

Liz (10):

I went on a mission trip to Poland my senior year of high school. While our group was there, we had the sober opportunity to visit Auschwitz, one of the main concentration camps used during the Holocaust.

I will never forget looking at the incinerators, the thousands of pairs of reading glasses left behind, the tiny children's shoes that were taken, and the locks of shaven hair, realizing that the Holocaust was indeed, a real event. Thousands of children were torn from their families, only to die in loneliness and fear because of their lineage. That single trip to Auschwitz was life changing for me, as I recognized the horrific lengths that sin can lead an individual to follow. I was also reminded, to an even greater degree, of the value of each and every human life, created in the image of God.

As I walked through the halls and across the grounds of that concentration camp over ten years ago, I realized that the Holocaust was not just some story written for a moral lesson or education. The torture in that camp was real, and the responsibility of Christians to protect human life is mandated. Reflecting upon the needless death of so many men, women and children, history made itself very much alive that day at Auschwitz — and left me with a memory that I hope never fades.

Tami (15):

I grew up visiting historic sites all over the United States — native sites in Arizona, California Missions, the Hoover Dam, Mount Vernon, Cape Canaveral, West Point, houses owned by the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts ... the list goes on. I read many, many a plaque and roadway marker. (And judging by old family stories, I think that might have been how I *learned* to read!). I'm also certain that this awareness of history prompted me to become a history major in college.

It was then that a book brought history to life for me, in a unique and very memorable way. That book: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.

My church situation, growing up, was dry. The church was focused on "bigger, better, newer," yet there wasn't much sense of God's presence and transforming power. As I got older, I sensed there was much more to the Christian life, and I yearned for unity and deeper community. As a junior in college, I took a course in the history of Christianity, and a Kempis' book was on the reading list. I had never read anything like it; a Kempis wrote of sincere devotion to the Lord, keeping near to Him, and weighing one's own thoughts, attitudes, and actions carefully. My eyes were thus opened to those who lived in Christ before me, and I came to recognize that I had spiritual "brothers and sisters". Through this experience, my desire to read the Bible devotionally increased, and I also got a better sense of the community of saints throughout time. So you could say, in a sense, pre-Reformation writings were the catalyst for my own personal reformation!

Jon Coffman (59):

History bored me in high school. It was dry. I discovered Steven Ambrose and his books (like Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, and the like) that I really began to enjoy reading history (or listening to it on books on tape). So much history, and it seemed so boring in high school! But with story tellers like Ambrose, David McCullough (wrote John Adams and 1776), Kenneth Davis (Don't know much about history), history came alive. History is story telling, and there are some great stories out there.

Joy in Chicago (121):

As an Orlando native, I had a keen sense of the fantastical but not necessarily the historic. Hundreds of visits to Disney World had armed me with a wonderful imagination, yet I struggled to view history as more than mere stories and legends. In particular, I struggled to understand how the Bible related to the rest of world history, which was extremely frustrating to me as this was the very history God wanted us to understand!

In summer 2006, I spent 5 life-changing weeks on an archaeological dig and tour of Israel. There were so many incredible moments: standing on the shore of Galilee where Jesus called his disciples, hiking through Ein Gedi where David hid from Saul, passing by the same gate in Dan that Abraham passed on his way from Ur, praying at the Wailing Wall, walking through the field where David fought Goliath, standing in the tomb where Jesus' body was laid, looking at Peter's house in Capernaum, walking past the steps of the Second Temple where Jesus overturned the moneychangers' tables, and countless others. How incredible it is to be able to read the Bible now and say, "I've been there!"

But nothing brought history alive to me like digging at Tel-Gezer, one of King Solomon's cities. I literally got to brush away the sands of time and unearth the past. Although it was thrilling to hear the archaeologists discuss the origins of the pottery and other relics we found, nothing compared to when I personally discovered a 3000-year-old chalice while digging in the temple area! There I was, after 5 weeks of seeing some of the most important sites in history, holding a chalice from the time of King David that I had discovered on my own — not in some museum, but with a pick ax! That find landed me on the front cover of the January/February issue of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, making me a part of history!

Comments

[1. BDB said the following at 4:49 PM on May 18:]

1

Congratulations to the winners!

[2. Tami said the following at 4:58 PM on May 18:]

2

Thank you so much!! :)

I am really excited to have won.

Congrats to my fellow winners as well.

[3. Lisa Anderson said the following at 5:10 PM on May 18:]

3

And don't worry, winners -- none of you will receive the DVD sets that I dropped on the studio floor during my interview with Dave...

[4. Rachael said the following at 5:17 PM on May 18:]

4

Poor thankful-hearted people...congratulations Tami; a name I recognize :)

[5. Melisssa S. said the following at 7:52 PM on May 18:]

5

Congratulations everyone!

Boundless- Would it be possible to post the winning entries? I'd like to read the stories but don't want to scroll through all the comments to find them. Maybe you have the specific five entries all together and can access them faster than I can? Pretty please? :)If not, oh well. Thanks, anyway!

[6. Liz said the following at 8:38 AM on May 19:]

6

Thanks, Boundless!

[1. BDB said the following at 4:49 PM on May 18:]

1

Congratulations to the winners!

[2. Tami said the following at 4:58 PM on May 18:]

2

Thank you so much!! :)

I am really excited to have won.

Congrats to my fellow winners as well.

[3. Lisa Anderson said the following at 5:10 PM on May 18:]

3

And don't worry, winners -- none of you will receive the DVD sets that I dropped on the studio floor during my interview with Dave...

[4. Rachael said the following at 5:17 PM on May 18:]

4

Poor thankful-hearted people...congratulations Tami; a name I recognize :)

[5. Melisssa S. said the following at 7:52 PM on May 18:]

5

Congratulations everyone!

Boundless- Would it be possible to post the winning entries? I'd like to read the stories but don't want to scroll through all the comments to find them. Maybe you have the specific five entries all together and can access them faster than I can? Pretty please? :)If not, oh well. Thanks, anyway!

[6. Liz said the following at 8:38 AM on May 19:]

6

Thanks, Boundless!