The following is a story I received by email several month ago. It is a wonderful story, but we also know that a lot of fiction circulates on the Internet. I went to Yahoo Australia to find a church that could verify the story. I was led to Brother Brian Schick of the Christian Life Centre in Mount Annan, Australia. Not only did he confirm the facts of the story, he informed me that his wife had received salvation through the same minister, John Ridley, described in the article that follows. From the entire continent of Australia, I was led to a brother who not only confirmed the story, but had personal knowledge of it. What a coincidence! If you are a long-time reader of my articles, you know I do not believe in coincidences, particularly in spiritual matters. I apologize for the length of this article, but every word is worthwhile.

Billions of people around the world were watching TV as the new millennium moved around the globe. An estimated two billion people watched as the first world-class city-Sydney, Australia-entered the year 2000. For the millions packed in around Sydney harbor, the fireworks show was deafening, awe-inspiring, spectacular. CNN reported that Sydney had the most spectacular fireworks show of any city in the world that night.

As the fireworks entered their final, frenetic finale and the Harbor Bridge erupted with showers of brilliance, the air was filled with smoke. But as everything died down and the crowd waited, the cameras zoomed in on the bridge. Two billion people watched as out of the smoke emerged, 100 meters tall, in brilliant light and beautiful copperplate script, the word "ETERNITY". The crowds erupted with cheering, the commentator mentioned a man named Arthur Stace, and the celebrations continued. But Christians around the world wondered-what was the story behind that word eternity? I want to tell you that story.

Arthur Stace was born in 1885 in Redfern, a part of Sydney today. He was the fifth child of abusive parents. Both parents were violent alcoholics and beat their children ruthlessly. To escape the constant beatings, Stace and his brothers and sisters slept on burlap sacks underneath their house. They stole milk and food from their neighbors and nearby shops.

At the age of twelve, Stace was abandoned by his parents and became a ward of the State. He became a child laborer, mining coal. When World War I erupted, Stace volunteered. The military was good for him. He became an upright citizen and a patriot and went to France. But the change was short-lived. When he returned after the war he found it difficult to adjust to civilian life. Soon his alcoholic past caught up with him and he sank even lower than he had been before. Stace remembered very little of the 'roaring 20s'. They passed in what he called an alcoholic haze.

In 1930 Stace finally encountered Jesus Christ. He wandered onto the church property at St. Barnabas Anglican Church on Broadway to get some free food and drink. He had reached rock bottom in his life and realized he could not change himself. When he heard of the love of God and that God could enter his life and make him a new man, he put his trust in Jesus Christ. His whole life changed. He became a healthy person who reached out to help others. He got a regular job. He began to attend Burton St. Baptist Church.

Two years later, in 1932, the great Australian evangelist, John Ridley (founder of Ambassadors for Christ), came to speak at Stace's church. John Ridley, like Stace, was a veteran of WWI, having received the Military Cross for his heroism. John Ridley's theme that night was "Eternity".

"Eternity-what a remarkable, uplifting, glorified word" he cried out, "...because there is only one eternity!" Stace was gripped by the message. But God really grabbed hold of Stace when Ridley said, "Eternity, eternity! Oh that I could shout and sound eternity all over the streets of Sydney! You have to meet eternity. Where will you spend eternity?"

Stace says that when he walked out of the meeting, those words reverberated in his mind, "Eternity, eternity!" He was overwhelmed with a desire to write the word. He says, "I had a piece of chalk in my pocket and I bent down right there and wrote it!"

Arthur Stace could hardly even write his own name legibly. He could barely believe what happened as he wrote the word "Eternity" with his piece of chalk. The word came out with a beauty worthy of a professional calligrapher, in lovely flowing copperplate script.

Stace sensed that God had given him a mission that day. Every day for the next 35 years Stace would emerge in his overcoat long before dawn to begin his ministry of writing the word "Eternity" in chalk all over Sydney. Before the day's commuters hit the streets Stace would write his word on the pavement near the walls where it would not be scuffed off. People all over Sydney wondered where this message was coming from.

Advertisers and artists claim that no one word has captured the heart of Sydney as much as Stace's "Eternity". It took Sydney news hounds thirty years to track him down and reveal his identity. His mystery was famous. When they found him they discovered his purpose too. He was an evangelist. Stace continued this ministry with great impact throughout his life. He wrote the word "Eternity" in chalk on city streets more than 500,000 times.

He died in 1967. His old friend, evangelist John Ridley, used to visit him often. One day Ridley approached Stace's bed in the nursing home with the words, "Arthur, Jesus and John are here." Stace was dead. But his message lives on. On November 3, 1990, the Australian newspaper wrote, "It is Arthur Malcolm Stace who wins our award for the one who overcame more obstacles to achieve fame. Born in poverty; a ward of the State, a drunkard and petty thief; served in WWI, who fell into drunken dereliction thereafter. In 1930 he was, as one would now say, born again and became an urban missionary. Thus began the quiet meanderings of the man with the golden chalk and his enigmatic message to us all, ETERNITY."

In 1994 an art film of his life was produced, which took international awards in a dozen countries. And finally on Dec. 24, 1999, The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney announced that Arthur Stace had been named the Sydney man of the millennium and his one-word message would appear as the climax of the millennium fireworks display. God would use the secular producers of the millennium celebration in a pagan nation to magnify and multiply Stace's ministry across the world to billions of people years after his death. God would be glorified in Sydney.

For us in Ambassadors for Christ, the connections are fascinating. Stace was converted at St. Barnabas, Broadway and was set ablaze for ministry by John Ridley, the founder of Ambassadors for Christ. May God be glorified once again as we move forward to obey his call on our lives.

Amen? Amen!

May His wonderful Name be praised forever.