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Top 5 Things I Learned from Cru: #1 - Eternal Perspective

My name is DJ Jenkins. My wife Alisha and I were on staff with Cru for a combined 20+ years, most recently as the Missional Team Leaders at the University of Arizona ( Bear Down! ). God has called us to leave staff and plant a church in LA in the coming years. Recently I took some time on my blog to post the "Top 5 Things I Learned" while on staff. I am blessed to share those posts here with you over the next 5 Mondays.

So without further adieu, here the Top 5 things (at least that I can think of!) that God taught me in my time with Cru.

#1: Eternal Perspective

Jesus rescued me my freshman year at  Cal Poly Pomona  through the staff and students of  Cru . As far back as my first year involved, I remember the staff talking about eternal perspective.

What is eternal perspective? Well it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like! But the concept means living in light of the eternal reality that we as Christians exist in. The seminal text for eternal persepctive is  2 Corinthians 4:16-5:21 .

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

This is an incredibly rich passage, but I remember my discipler Mike Berk saying things like,  "There are only 3 things that are eternal: God, God's Word, and the Souls of Men. How then should we invest our lives?"

I remember staff drawing a line with two arrows on each end, saying it represents eternity, then putting a dot in the middle, saying  "This dot represents your life. Which are you going to live for, the dot, or the line?"  Images like these will live with me my whole life.

Like all 5 things I will share on this blog, I love eternal perspective not because Cru teaches it, but because it is so biblical and so crucial for every follower of Jesus. I pray God will help me now and for my whole "dot" to live for the line, to live for eternity. I pray I can lead our new church to live like this. I am thankful so many in Cru taught it to me.

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