Whether the mission is starting a new business, exploring space or driving for a vacation to Disney World, a mission is an adventure which requires stepping into (often) unknown contexts with uncertain outcomes. Sure, I have a portrait in my mind of how it will all turn out. However, that picture is rarely how the paint is applied in real life. In setting sail on a new adventure, experience can quickly turn optimism into pessimism. So what I need in order to sail well in my present adventure in mission/church planting is neither an unbridaled optimism or an enthusiasm crushing pessimism. I need gospel realism. That is what I find in Acts 17, where Luke records the ongoing adventure of Paul's missionary adventure.

In Thessalonica, some Jews and many Greeks were persuaded by Paul's preaching and became believers. They would later be the recipients of I and II Thessalonias in the New Testament. And yet, some of the Jews became jealous and formed a mob (probably to stone and possibly kill Paul). Paul escaped the city by night.

In the city of Berea, as he preached, many people "received the word with all eagerness." But Paul's Thessalonian opponents tracked him down, and so "the brothers sent Paul off on his way to the sea..."

During his next stop in Athens, he reasoned in the Jewish synogogues and with anyone in the marketplace who was open to dialogue. After an invitation to preach in the Aeropagus, "some mocked," but "some men joined him and believed."

The lesson for me here is to maintain gospel realism. God is at work. People will respond to the gospel and believe. However, there will be opposition and rejection, too. If I do not expect both, I either will grow disillusioned or cynical. So I'm glad for Acts 17, which mirrors the effect of the cross. Some mocked Jesus, beat him and spit on him. But even a hardened Roman soldier/executioner ends up confessing, "Surely, this was the Son of God."