• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

DONATE
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Bloggers
    • Commenting Policy
  • Reading Lists
  • Scholar’s Compass
    • Scholar’s Compass Booklet
    • View Recent Posts
  • Connect
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Vocation / Academic Vocations / Beginning Fall 2019: A Letter from ESN Director Bob Trube

Beginning Fall 2019: A Letter from ESN Director Bob Trube

September 8, 2019 by Bob Trube No Comments

ohio state university photo
Photo by marada

As we start the academic year, Bob encourages us from his experience as campus minister and ESN Director. Stay tuned for our weekly readings for individuals and groups, and some upcoming announcements for events in person and online. Image: Ohio State University. 


Scholarship is framed around what we do not know, the research questions we pursue in our work, or even the more down to earth questions of how we will complete all this work in our waking hours. Sometimes the unknown has to do with our own futures—questions that are scarier in many cases.

Perhaps a good place for scholar Christians to begin the year is reflecting upon what we do know connected with our faith. I might sum it up like this: God has created, loved, called, gifted, and destined us.

  • Created: How will I offer my created self, my body head to toe as a living sacrifice in the routines of my days and weeks?
  • Loved: How will I respond to the love of God in Christ in deepening that relationship through personal and corporate times of enjoying, and listening to, and communing with God?
  • Called: What opportunity in my work do I have to care for God’s world, and in my sphere of relationships to represent Christ?
  • Gifted: What do I enjoy doing and do well, and how might that be employed to advance God’s aims, God’s rule in the world?
  • Destined: How might I live as a person of hope and purpose in light of the truth that I will be raised and reign with Christ?

These five words work as a plot summary for the grand story in which we live. They situate our story within the great story of God. I easily forget the story and get caught up in other stories. Let me invite you as you begin your year to reflect on these five words, these five plot points of the great story. Might you set aside some time as part of your sabbath (you do take sabbaths, I hope) to reflect how God is inviting you further on in his story this year?

Yours on the scholarly journey,

Bob Trube, ESN Director

 

About the author:

Bob Trube
Website | Posts

Bob Trube is Associate Director of Faculty Ministry and Director of the Emerging Scholars Network. He blogs on books regularly at bobonbooks.com. He resides in Columbus, Ohio, with Marilyn and enjoys reading, gardening, choral singing, and plein air painting.

  • Bob Trube
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/bob_trube/
    Academic Freedom and the Freedom of the Christian Academic
  • Bob Trube
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/bob_trube/
    Writers Wanted!
  • Bob Trube
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/bob_trube/
    Top ESN Posts of 2021
  • Bob Trube
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/bob_trube/
    Beginning Well With the Four Loves

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Academic Vocations, Christian Thought and Practice, Life in the Academy, Resources for ESN Members Tagged With: Beginning Well, God's story, narrative

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Become a Member

Membership is Free. Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter and access ESN member benefits.

Join ESN Today

Scholar’s Compass Booklet

Scholar's Compass Booklet

Click here to get your copy

Top Posts

  • Science Corner: Don't It Make My Blue Whale Big
  • The Message of Genesis 1
  • 2023 Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant
  • Christian Views of Creation
  • Sign Up: Feb 18 Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant Workshop

Facebook Posts

Facebook Posts

Footer

About Us

The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) is a national network within InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries which supports those on the academic pathway as they work out how their academic vocation serves God and others. We encourage and equip undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty as they navigate each stage of their academic vocation and transition to the next step in or beyond the academy.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

  • Science Corner: Don’t It Make My Blue Whale Big
  • Sign Up: Feb 18 Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant Workshop
  • Praying in the Academy

Article Categories

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Copyright © 2023 - InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ®. All rights reserved.

InterVarsity, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, and the InterVarsity logo are trademarks of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and its affiliated companies.