Every year I get together with a group of my old college friends. In the past we've flown to interesting places and done touristy kinds of things, but as we've gotten older, we're content to just sit and talk.

One of the main things we do is encourage one another to live well and to not cease from dreaming. My main encouragement to them is to get on with what you're good at.

We are a "community of passion" - we are passionate about living lives that count, lives that demonstrate stewardship.

As Gary Hamel says, "Extraordinary things are done by communities of passion."

Yes, survival is enough. Raising your kids to love God and getting them through college is an achievement by itself. But we recognize the value of our dreams too. And for one long weekend a year, we bring out our dreams, look at them together, and consider their pricetags as well as the high price of not pursuing them.

Recently, all of us have been in a long phase of character-building. It's a phase that often precedes dream-building. We look at the things that have tried our character and try to follow the example of Joseph (about whom the psalmist said: "Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph's character."*)

For three days in March we review life and tell stories. Along the way, we laugh a lot. We reminisce. We've done life together for 35 years and have a lot of territory to cover.

We also ask the tough questions. We want to finish strong and recognize that doing so takes encouragement. As fans of C.S. Lewis, we resonate with what he said about the subject: "Something deep in the human heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity. Our hearts cry out for life."

These guys are one of God's great gifts to me. What we have together is part of the dream that God is fulfilling in me. They give me the courage to take risks that might otherwise lay dormant.

Do you have friends like that - do you have a community of passion? It's a dream worth fighting for.

* Psalm 105.19