Bob the Tomato spoke at my college graduation.

Well, technically, Phil Vischer was the commencement speaker. But he did do the Bob voice. So that counts, right?

It was 2003 and Phil had just survived the bankruptcy and collapse of the VeggieTales empire. There was something raw and courageous about the way he spoke. Everyone in the gymnasium sat on the edge of their seats as he repeatedly asked, and attempted to answer, his own haunting question:

What do you do when you have a dream, God shows up in it, and then it dies?

I was twenty-one years old. My first book had been published the summer before. Two publishers and a literary agent wanted to talk to me about my future as an author. In a few months I would be speaking at events on a major platform with some big names. All of my dreams were coming true.

Yet, I knew I needed to listen and pay close attention. Phil had learned some very important lessons about God and dreams and I wished desperately for a pen to take notes. Since I didn’t have one on me, I opted to purchase the CD of his commencement address and the book he later released detailing the same story.

I’ve thought of Phil Vischer often in the last seven years. During a season in my own ministry where it looked like my dreams were surely dead I pounded my feet to a treadmill as I listened to his commencement address again.

A few weeks ago, Phil was on Focus on the Family radio. When several people suggested I listen to the podcasts I knew it was time to revisit his story. This time Phil was further removed from the pain he experienced in 2003 and he was filled with even more wisdom.

He said something that struck me and seemed to answer questions I was still forming in the deep places of my heart. I don’t remember how he worded it exactly, but he said something like:

You can’t confuse the calling with the dream. You must ask God if each little, specific, thing is part of His will for you.

He went on to explain that he knew God’s calling on his life was to make life-changing movies from a Christian worldview. But, during the VeggieTales, years he quickly confused that with becoming the Christian Walt Disney. Phil was busy dreaming of feature films, spinoff toy products, and even an amusement park. God was only asking Phil to develop creative stories that would teach the Bible to kids.

As Phil expanded his empire he began assuming that everything that fueled his dream was part of God’s will. Eventually, he found himself in over his head with his dream going up in smoke. He lost it all. Everything Phil poured into VeggieTales was packed into boxes and sold at a bankruptcy auction.

After listening to Phil’s recent interview I sat down with my journal and a pen. I divided all of the things I am currently doing into one of two categories—The Dream and The Calling. With raw honesty I began to examine my own course of action and determine what I knew to be God’s will for this season of my life and what I just assumed fit with the big picture I had conjured up in my head.

The results were surprising. I challenge you to use the same exercise, especially if you are pursuing a large dream. In the meantime, let’s talk about this.  

What do you think of the Phil’s words about differentiating the dream from the calling? When have you confused the two? How can we do a better job at evaluating what really is God’s calling on our lives and what just seems like it would fit? In what ways can Phil’s mistake keep us from making our own?