Mark Geil,
Kinesiology and Health,
Georgia State University
[ April 24, 2009 ] — I’ve just finished the last of 14 NIH grant proposal reviews and I am exhausted. I’ve been on both sides of the process – reviewer and reviewee – so I try to spend a lot of time on my feedback to each investigator. I also try to provide balanced comments, both positive and negative, although I often look back on my reviews and see a litany of criticism:
The hypothesis is not testable.
There was no control population.
The sample size was not justified by any measure of statistical power.
The proposal contains numerous spelling and grammatical errors and should have been proofread.
Sound familiar? I hope not, but I think maybe we’ve all been there. I know my own proposals have had deficiencies. Sometimes I’ve been careless or sloppy, working against a tight deadline. Other times I recognize that I was in a stage of my professional development during which I did not understand my own line of research as well as I could have.
Life Under The Law
The grant review process is a bit like the life that Paul describes as “under the Law,” the life in which we all fall short. I’ve yet to give a grant proposal a perfect score, and I’ve yet to meet a person (myself included) who has not sinned. Now, I learned a long time ago that I am saved from the penalty of my sin by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I never for one second discount the miracle and mystery of grace. But as I grow as a Christian I’m learning that I’m still being judged. Life is still a grant review, and I’d still rather get a 1.3 than a 3.4 (on the NIH scale). The very Jesus Who gave us a way to Heaven said, “The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (John 14:21a).
In Life I’ve Already Made the Mark
I am free from the law, thank God, but I have no desire to be free from God’s commandments. What is growing in me is not my capacity to do what is good, but my desire to do what is good. I obey because I want to, not because I have to.
As soon as I finish this proposal review session, I’m due to write two proposals of my own. They will then be judged, and I already know that most of the comments will be negative. That’s just how it goes. I’ll get a score, and that score will determine whether I receive funding or not. In life, I’ve already made the mark, not because of anything I have done, but because of what Christ has done for me. In that glory, I continue to work on this life, hoping for the ultimate “grant review” in Heaven: the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
(c) 2009 Mark Geil Used by permission of Faculty Commons