mr. eternity

I've rarely been so proud of the labels for a particular post here, but today's include the incredible mix of "christians," "sydney," "why sydney rocks," "history" and "famous australians."  It's rare Christians get a good rap in society today, but I absolutely love it when it happens -- just think if every Christian lived the way Christians are supposed to, how much better would our stigma in society be?  Not that Christians should ever expect to be treated well by the world at large, but if we were hated because of Jesus instead of for not acting like Him, at least that would mean we were doing an awful lot better job of following Him.

Anyway, I have a vague idea that others from outside-of-Christian circles have mentioned Mr. Eternity to me before, but I heard about him at church tonight in one of those ways like Martin Luther King, Jr. that makes you go, "yeah!  If only everyone realized he was doing what he did for the gospel of Jesus Christ and not just because he was nice/creative/charismatic/altruistic/cool/etc!"

So, Mr. Eternity is a reasonably well-known name in Sydney because for 35 years in the early to mid 1900s he wrote the word "eternity" in chalk all over the streets of Sydney.  He's estimated to have written it over 500,000 times and thus made his mark.  Because his identity wasn't known, he was referred to as Mr. Eternity.

The part of the story that isn't as widely known is that his real name was Arthur Stace and he had an absolutely amazing testimony of being a follower of Jesus Christ.  He'd had an awful childhood and led a very colorful life up unto the age of 46 at which time he heard a sermon and gave his life to Christ.  Two years later he heard another sermon on eternity from Isaiah 57:15 ("For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.") and felt God's call on his life to write "eternity" around Sydney.  I imagine this was to make everyone stop and consider eternity and how their current lives would impact their eternity, though I didn't find that explicitly stated.  What was also fascinating was that he was nearly illiterate to the point of hardly being able to write his own name, but he was able to write "eternity" beautifully.

He lived in Sydney between 1884 and 1967, and today one of his "eternity" chalk writings remains (there are two other replicas).  Vastly more important, though, is the impact he made on a hugely unknowable number of people which will truly last for eternity.

For further reading:
"Mr. Eternity -- Arthur Stace"
Eternity at the Olympics -- though I disagree with the ending.  I doubt he (or any Christian) would call the gospel the best "bargain" he'd ever had.
Arthur Stace -- Wikipedia