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The Chibi News Daily Reflection
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Hi my name's Andrew Latimer, I'm a Church of England minister at Grace Church in Greenwich
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I doubt many of us have heard the name of Arthur Stace. He grew up in Australia in extreme poverty
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Both his parents were alcoholics. By age 12 he too was an alcoholic. By age 15 Arthur was in jail
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Aged 45, Arthur, who was homeless at the time, he came into a church and he heard the good news of Jesus
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And in particular, what gripped him was the gift of eternal life that Jesus offers
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And Arthur wanted to share what he'd discovered. He couldn't read, he couldn't even write his own name
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So he learned to write just one word, the word eternity. And he wrote it in beautiful copperplate script
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And he'd get up at four o'clock each morning and for the next 35 years
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He would write this one word, eternity, in chalk, on footpaths and railway station entrances
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and everywhere he went before the rest of the city woke up. And the legend grew, who was this mysterious man who wrote the word eternity
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And after he died and the story got out, his life has inspired books and even a film
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And when Sydney hosted the Olympics back in the year 2000, in the opening ceremony the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up with this word
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eternity in Arthur's script and it was seen by billions of people across the world to celebrate
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Arthur had to convey his simple message of hope with the world. Now Arthur was never going to
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write books or preach sermons but he offered what he could and like that little boy who shared his
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packed lunch with Jesus, do you remember five loaves and two fish, God was able to multiply this
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modest offering for the blessing of countless others
