I had the honor of participating in the CCO’s first-ever online Advent Devotional this month. Here is my contribution,, published today, on the Winter Solstice:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
I still remember the phone call on that balmy April evening 26 years ago.
Julie, my CCO supervisor, was on the other end of the line, and her gentle voice was serious as she prepared me for hard news: “Amy, I am so sorry to tell you this. Kris was killed this evening when she was out riding her bike.”
I felt as though the breath had been knocked out of me.
Kris was one of my campus ministry colleagues. We had started on CCO staff at the same time, just three years earlier. At age 27, she was a couple of years older than me—and far too young to die.
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