God's heartbeat for the life of young people is the same today as it has been since the very dawn of creation. And so the title of my message this morning out of Acts chapter 26 is Paul, an apostle, a sent one. And we're gonna see how God arranged Saul of Tarsus who became Paul's life in such a way that on the road to Damascus, this second most influential person in Western civilization, world history really, Paul encountered the living God, but it had everything to do with how his parents had set him up. So look with me here at Acts chapter 26, beginning in verse one. This is Paul or Saul who became Paul standing before King Agrippa and giving a defense of his life. And he says, so Agrippa. He said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. This is Agrippa saying this to Paul. So Paul stretched out his hand and he made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you King Agrippa that I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews. Stop right here real quick. Whenever you read through this and you see Jews and spoken of in a derogatory manner, we wanna be careful that this is not them speaking against a race or a group of people. They're speaking against the religious leaders of the Jewish people. The vast majority of the Jewish community at this time was not antagonistic towards Christianity. It was the Jewish leaders. So I want you to keep that in mind. So it says, so it's before you that I'm making my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all of their customs and controversies of the Jews. And therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth was spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem. And it's known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time if they are willing to testify that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by the Jews, O King. Why it is thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead. I myself was convinced that ought to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. Verse 12, in this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and the commission of the chief priests. At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to kick against the goats. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand up to your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. So this is Paul recounting to King Agrippa basically his life's journey of how he arrived at the place that he was at as he's now arrested.  And when we look back on the, you know, from Acts chapter nine, really Acts chapter eight, when Saul first appears at the stoning of Stephen and in Acts chapter nine, he encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus and in Acts chapter 13, where at Antioch, the leaders of the church of Antioch laid hands on him, recognizing the apostolic call on his life. And by the way, the word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos and it means a sent one or a commissioned one. And Paul was commissioned by Jesus and he just recounted it to us as he's looking back many, many years at that event. And he said, it was Jesus who appointed me as an apostle. But it was at Antioch that the leaders of the church, the elders, the pastors, the prophets and the teachers heard from the Holy spirit, laid hands on Paul, said, yes, you're an apostle and they sent him. We see that in Acts chapter 13. And from there, Paul then travels throughout most of the Mediterranean world throughout Asia Minor, which is Turkey today and all of kind of that area into Europe a little bit in the Middle East where he would go and preach the gospel. He would establish churches and he would be persecuted. And then he'd move on and everywhere that Paul went, the gospel penetrated some of the most difficult, darkest territories that the world had in existence at that time. Different from the other apostles because the other apostles really stayed in Jerusalem. They were Jewish. They kind of were Jerusalem centric until there was a time of persecution that forced them to go out. But it was Paul under the inspirational Holy spirit who began to take the gospel to non-Jewish people, to Gentiles. And I'm grateful for that because I is one. Any other Gentiles in the room? You better raise your hand unless you're David Klein in this room. David Klein is my messianic friend and he attends our church and he's one of our dear close friends. I did ancestry.com, figured out I'm 3% Jewish. So I'm in the tribe. I count 3%. I mean, I'm only 1% a Lions fan. So I figure that makes me way more Jewish. But most of us in this room are here today because a man who encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus was so overcome with conviction and compassion and radical obedience. And all of the other things that he had learned in his life that became part of his personality and temperament that caused him to drive beyond barriers and bring the gospel to new frontiers where no man had boldly ever gone before. And because of that, the gospel is here today. Who is this guy, Paul? I mean, Paul, the second most influential person in world history probably. It's at least in modern times over the last 2000 years and you say, well, who's number one? Well, that's Jesus, obviously. I mean, that's Jesus. But next to him, Paul. Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament. Paul brought the gospel into new frontiers. Paul established some of the early church leadership. Paul took the brunt of persecution early on. And if you look at the ramifications of what this book that Paul wrote two thirds of half of it has produced at least in Western civilization today that you and I live in, it's the result of Paul. Paul's the one that brought the gospel and billions and billions of people's lives have been impacted by this man. And you want to do a study in a personality, do a study in the personality and the temperament of the apostle Paul. And it's fascinating, this apostle, this sent one, this commissioned one. But how did Paul become Paul? You might start at the road to Damascus and say, well, obviously he encountered Jesus. Well, how many know that's huge? I mean, that changes everything. When you're walking along, going where you think you're going, right in your own mind, and then the light of a 747 shows up, knocks you off your horse, and then God himself speaks to you. How many know that will probably change everything in your life? At least it should. And I would say that, yes, his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was the tipping point that did shift and change so much. Jesus said to him, Paul, it's I, Jesus, you and me are persecuting. Paul hated Jesus. And then met him and realized all the work that he had been doing for God was actually working against God. And God, his son appeared to him and said, it's hard for you to kink against the goats. And if you don't know what a goat is, when a farmer had horses or oxen that they were using to plow a field, when the ox or the horse decided that it didn't wanna go in a straight line or it didn't wanna move anymore, a farmer had a sharp stick called a goat and he would use it to poke them and motivate them. It's like, you can stop, but it's gonna be painful. And sometimes they would try to go against the farmer, so the farmer would use goats on the plow that were pointed up, that kept them going in a straight direction and kept them from deviating from that course. Here's what Jesus said about Paul. He said, Paul, you've been kicking against the goats, which means for a long time, Jesus has been trying to get a hold of Paul's attention, but he keeps kicking against it. How many know sometimes when people are fighting against something passionately, it's because they know that there's something there that they need to pay attention to?  But it wasn't just the road to Damascus that shaped who Paul was. As Paul is preaching and presenting his case before King Agrippa, look at verse number four here. As he's telling his story, he goes all the way back to the beginning of his life and he says this, my manner of life from my youth. My manner of life from my youth, if you have a pen and you have your Bible or you're taking notes, write that phrase down. My manner of life from my youth, from the beginning among my own nation and Jerusalem, it's known by all the Jews. In Galatians chapter one, Paul says something very similar. He says, you all know of my former life in Judaism. How I was advancing beyond many of my own kinsmen, among my own age and my people group in Judaism, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of our fathers. This is what Paul says about himself. I was advancing, I was growing, I was learning and I was at the top, I was extremely zealous. Well, where did all that zeal and passion, where did all that advancement come from?  When we think about a manner of life, that phrase that is used there is actually a phrase that whether you've actually used it of yourself or not, the reality is that in the formative years of your life, you developed a manner of life and had everything to do with the input or the lack thereof of your parents or of other people into your life that helped craft a worldview for you of how you saw the world. It also helped craft a self-view for you of how you saw yourself. And from a spiritual standpoint, it has to do with a heavenly view of how you saw God, how you see God, how you see yourself and how you view the world. Those are the factors that then help you create whether consciously or subconsciously a manner of life. For Paul or for Saul at that point, it was a manner of life that his parents helped craft. And when we're talking about a manner of life, it's really three things. So write these down. Number one, it's your patterns, it's your perspectives and it's your passions. It's your patterns, it's the daily disciplines of your life. It's your perspectives, your worldviews that I just described to you. And your passions, the things that you are passionate about. Oftentimes we're born with passions. If you've ever watched little kids from an early age sit down and play the piano, it's like, wow, how in the world did that happen? I mean, how did they know that they loved music? It was just in them. It's part of the God-giving gifts that are inside of us. But there are other passions that are actually developed over time that are the result of being trained. Because that's what parents do. We're called to train up our children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, right? We train them, which means that we teach them and we model by our own example or we kind of point them in a certain direction. We'll talk more about that here in a moment. But Paul is saying, look, my manner of life, verse four, my manner of life from my youth was spent, where? In my own nation at Jerusalem. Well, why is that important? Well, number one, Paul did not grow up in Jerusalem. Paul was Jewish, but he grew up in one of the most influential cities in Asia Minor at that time called Tarsus. Tarsus, like Kalamazoo, was a university town. It was not a Christian town. There was no Christianity as he was growing up. It had a small Jewish community, but it was a pagan city. It was part of the greater Greco-Roman culture. It was pagan, but it was very cosmopolitan, very wealthy, and it had a major university. About one third of the population of the city of Tarsus was university students from all over the Roman world. It was not that far from the Mediterranean, so he had access to kind of beach life. I mean, he grew up in a very, very non. I mean, sometimes we think of Paul that he's like this Jewish leader that kind of grew up in a Middle Eastern context. Now he was very almost European, grew up in a very secular or a very pagan culture in a strong Jewish community and from a very affluent Jewish family. And so from early on, his family established a pattern of life for him, a manner of life for him, because that's what takes place within the Jewish family context. So here's what they did. Paul's parents helped to establish this pattern of life or manner of life for Paul by establishing footings and foundations into his life. And they did it by doing things like this. They did it by celebrating the Sabbath together every single week. Sabbath was vital to the Jewish community. When everybody else is working at sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, they honored the Sabbath, the time of rest and a time of worship and a time of prayer. Paul had this happen in his life from the moment that he was born. It wasn't something that his family did after he was born, he was born into it. And as part of that, so he had the footings of seeing Sabbath and part of what Sabbath was was a reminder that God created everything. So what was it? It was a perspective. God is creator. Cause sometimes kids ask questions. Have you figured this out? It's like, Hey dad, why don't we do anything when all of our pagan neighbors, you know, they're going out to the restaurants on Friday night. Why don't we go out on Friday nights? It's because we're different. Why are we different? We're Jewish. Why are we Jewish? Because God picked out the people of Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob, Israel as special to himself and marked us. Okay, so why don't we do it? Because this is the Sabbath. Tell me about why it's the Sabbath. It's after six days when God created everything. Oh, who's God? God's the creator. So he created everything. Yes. And so what did he do after he created everything? He rested and because God rested, we rest. That got into the framework of Paul from the time he was a child. And along with that, they established the footings and the foundations of a life of prayer, of reading from the Torah, which is the scripture, the law of Moses. This was in his footings. And as part of that, he learned to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem because the Old Testament, as he's reading the Torah, the Torah says, not only do you celebrate Sabbath, but there are special high feasts. And when you do it, come to Jerusalem as if it's possible and celebrate. So very likely Paul would go to Jerusalem with his family every Passover and they would go. And maybe multiple times a year to these feasts and they would gather together with other Jewish families at the temple and they would say their prayers and they would remember the history of the Jewish people and God's redemptive history with them. And they would hear from the Torah and different scholars and upon this pilgrimage, as he's among all of his other peers, there's a leading theologian and scholar, Rabbi, whose name is Gamaliel. He is even in secular history and Jewish history. He's one of the most brilliant teachers. He's a disciple of one of the two leading schools of thought Shamai and he's looking for disciples. And so when Saul's family brings him from Tarsus, at some point, there was something inside of him that his parents are like, get in closer to the rabbi and Gamaliel goes, I like this young man. He says, why don't you send your son to Jerusalem and let me train him? And so his parents sent him probably after his bar mitzvah, after about 12 years old, they sent Saul in his teenage years into the environment of sitting at the feet of the leading rabbi of his day, where he learned deeper about a manner of life, deeper about the history of God's redemptive work in Israel, deeper about the Torah, deeper about prayer, deeper about all of these things. And his parents had to fund all that. Why am I telling you all this? It's because his parents established this manner of life in Saul's life that later on as an adult, he's describing. Who's responsible for that? It's Paul's parents. Paul's parents did it. And in fact, we know from New Testament that Paul becomes a tent maker. That's his like part-time job. Do you know that the leading industry outside of the university in Tarsus is tent making? So somewhere along the line, they even taught him a trade. So his parents said, I'm down and go, you're really sharp, you're really smart, here's our family, here's our identity, here's how we are, here's who God is, here's who you are, here's how you fit into this whole equation.  The first thing is they taught him by their example. They established the footings in the foundation in Paul's life by their own example. They did not say, hey, Paul, you should go up into your room and read the Bible. Now, they read the Bible. Parents, can I just tell you? What you tell your kids, they might hear, but what you show your kids, they will learn. And so whatever it is that is your manner of life is parents. And I'm talking to future parents. I'm talking to single parents. I'm talking to dual parents. I'm talking to grandparents.  And you might say, well, my kids are doing things I never did. Well, it might not be the specific things, but if there's compromise in your life or hypocrisy in your life in one area, it will be magnified in your children's life in others. Now, let me just say this, that isn't a universal rule. There are seasons and times where your kids are gonna push against the limits and do what you don't want them to do. I'm not talking about that, but I'm talking about the long version of who they become, what you teach them by your example has so much influence in their lives. Paul's family did this. They prayed. They read the scripture. They went to the synagogue on Sabbath. They honored the Sabbath. They went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. Paul probably worked with his father, who was a tent maker, and learned to trade as he went along. Our children, this is so important, and listen, this may be one of the most important messages that I ever preach because as I look at the landscape of our culture right now, the biggest threat that is facing us is the dismantling of the nuclear family because of all the atomic repercussions of that. Because in the void of parents, in the void of intentional fathering or intentional mothering, speaking into the life of our children and doing this and creating a manner of life, there is a spirit of this age that is more than willing to step in and become the anti-parents for you. We're all worried about the Antichrist. I'm not worried about the Antichrist as much as I'm worried about the anti-parents. Because the only reason an Antichrist has influence on the voice of a person is because there hasn't been a parent that had a stronger voice. And we can gain the whole world, parents, and invest our energies and our passions into climbing the corporate ladder of just kind of enjoying the comforts of this present age. But if we will really lean in and deal with our own insecurities and let the first love flame of our heart really get stoked and direct our attentions, it's like I just got a window of time with my kids, mom and dad both. You might be in a single parent family household and go, I'm doing double duty. Great, God will make all grace abound to you. I trust this. But all he's looking for is intentionality. This is key because the family is the greenhouse today of what will grow in our society tomorrow. Okay, don't wave your hankies at me. Paul's family taught by example. And we have to teach by example. My earliest memories, okay, so I grew up in a single parent home and my grandparents had to step in. Earliest memories is my grandfather every single morning of 530 sitting in a chair reading his Bible. You've heard me tell that story before. That is indelibly imprinted on my heart. Your kids need to see you read the Bible. Yes. One of the reasons I want you to have a physical Bible is because it's too easy to hide behind a phone. Oh, what are you doing? Oh, people might think I'm scrolling Instagram, but I'm sneaking a little NLT. No, no, you need to get a big black king, no, probably not King James, but you need to get like a physical Bible that, I mean, you might say, well, isn't that kind of outward expression? Yeah, because God sees your heart, but man sees the outward appearance. So I want my kids when we were growing up, Jane would get up way earlier than I did back in the day. And our kids know what it's like to wake up and hear worship music in our living room and their mom sitting on the couch reading their Bible. Our kids know what it's like to come home from school and to see me at the table studying with my Bible open, reading, we would get in the car when I would take them to school. And my kids, when they were really little, their favorite thing to do is ask me. It was like red hot with just my kids. And by the way, my kids asked way tougher questions than you guys do. Where did dinosaurs come from? Dad, did Adam have a belly button? I'm just like, oh, Lord, it's seven in the morning. Can we just start with Jesus loves me this I know? I mean, these are powerful markers though in the life of our kids. When you make attending church as a family a priority, you might have to fight your kids to get them in the car. I mean, we don't wanna go. My grandparents were like, we either go to church or you don't eat. It was like, so if you wanna stay home, you don't eat. I'm just like, okay, we'll go to church. Cause I like food. And so we would go to church. I mean, it was, I can't think of one Sunday, my entire time of ever being with my grandparents that we did not go to church. And we went Sunday morning and Sunday night. Come on, anybody else grew up in era where you went Sunday morning from the rising of the sun into the setting of the same, the name of the Lord is to be praised. And buddy, we are going to church. We are not staying home. You're not watching, you know, your TV show. We are going to church. If the deacons are at the church washing the windows, we're going to, they're to say, yes, and amen. We are going to church. It establishes a pattern. We're gonna pray together. We're gonna process together. So they taught by example, and here's the other thing that they did. They prioritized environments. What do I mean by that? Well, not only did they create a pattern of life for their kids in their home, but when they had opportunity, they put Paul into environments that they knew were gonna cause his faith to flourish. What do I mean? They sent him to Jerusalem. Imagine sending, it's like sending your kid to boarding school, but they knew if he's there, he's going to grow exponentially spiritually. And so they sent him to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. They put him in environments. What's that mean for us today as we're raising our kids? Number one, we need a lead by example, and we need to, we're responsible for building the fire as Garrett made reference to on the altar in our homes. That's our responsibility. But number two, putting our kids in environments that we know are gonna feed their faith, or at least set the stage for Jesus to encounter them. That means sending them to youth. If you have teenagers, you need to send them at either one of our locations to student ministries and student leadership on Monday nights. Why? It's because it's getting into them. Well, they don't really want to.  Do they want to go to school every day? I mean, if you have a child that wakes up every morning going, I can't wait to go to school today. Today's gonna be a day of learning. Then you've done something right. That was not me. It was like, get out of bed. I don't wanna go, I'm sick. No, you're not.  If you're sick, you will sit in this bed, no TV all day long, your phone is confiscated. That was the house I grew up in, so we were rarely sick. Or we mysteriously felt better by 1030 and went to school after we woke up. But we have to put our kids in environments. It's like, kids in sports every single day don't feel like going to practice. Why? They do it because they know it's a rhythm. You are the one that creates the rhythm. Well, I wanna just let my kids be free range kids. You let your kids be free range kids, they will turn out to be deranged adults. Guardrails are good things. I'm preaching to somebody now. I just feel the Holy Spirit just lighting upon a parent over there. I felt that, oh, see that? They put their kids in environments, send them to camp, send them to student leadership, put them into environments. The environments you put your kids into intentionally are the genetic code of what they will be in the future. We spend, oh, I'm about to, mm-hmm, okay. We spend thousands of dollars in our culture to put our kids in every travel sport by every uniform, get every technological tool and advancement, and then we give them breadcrumbs of faith and patterns of faith in their lives. And then when they're 18, we wonder why they walk away from the faith. We have subconsciously sent a message. What's important is that you become an athlete, not that you become a disciple. Now, put them in sports, but fill them with faith. So when they go to the sports, they're gonna excel at what they do, but they're going to excel from the inside out because they've got character, virtue, and faith. Don't put them into an environment where they're going to experience peer pressure and they've got the wrong set of priorities. All right. Okay, here, here, see sending, everybody say sending. Sending is an intentional act. And before Jesus, remember, apostle means sent one. How did Paul become an apostle? He was sent by Jesus. But before Jesus sent Paul to be an apostle, which was his purpose in calling, his parents sent Paul to Jerusalem. They sent him into environments that build foundation stones in him so that when Paul encountered personally the Lord, it would connect him to his purpose and his faith. You can't make your kids Christians. You can't, but you can set every obstacle in their way that would keep them from it. And you can build family foundations by your example and the environments that you intentionally put them into so that all God has to do is show up and encounter them. See, Paul was an enemy of the gospel, but he had foundations of faith. And all it took was one moment in the presence of the living God, that all the pieces came together. For me, that happened when I was 12. My mother to a degree, my grandparents in large degree put me in environments so that when I encountered Jesus at 12 years old, it all came together. Jane will tell you that she grew up in church, her and John went to church twice a Sunday, went to Christian schools. She really would say that she knows that she's shared this publicly before, but that she really was not a Christian. But when her and I began to date and she encountered the presence of the Lord, all the foundation stones that have been built by her parents in her life all became the altar, that the flame of love for Jesus could light upon. You can't make your kids a Christian. And just because you take them to church doesn't mean that they are. But I know this, that the majority of kids that grow up in church, if parents have laid those foundation stones in the home and in the environments, when Jesus meets them, they're gonna have to leap over the fire of God's presence to avoid following Jesus. Think about this this morning. And I wish I had time. Psalm 127 says, children are arrows in the quiver. Why does he use the example of an arrow? Because arrows are something that have to be pointed. And here's what I know is that the direction that we aim our children in with what we do will become the aim of our children in their future. Think about this example, and I'm gonna close with this this morning. One of the great revivalists, probably the most brilliant theological thinker that America's ever produced was a man named Jonathan Edwards. In the 1700s, he was one of the great theologians who taught at Yale. He's the preacher of one of the most famous sermons called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He led the first grade awakening. Again, he was not a perfect man. There's some things I wish that he had changed, but he was a man of his day and he was a devout follower of Jesus. And he had many, many children.  And Jonathan Edwards listened to the legacy of Jonathan Edwards. Of all of the descendants of Jonathan Edwards, 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 60 doctors and deans of medical schools, 80 holders of public office, three United States senators, three major mayors of large cities, three state governors, a vice president of the United States and the controller of the United States Treasury. Members of his family wrote 135 books and edited 18 academic journals and periodicals. They entered the ministry in platoons and sent hundreds of missionaries overseas as well as stocking many mission boards with lay trustees. This is the legacy of one man who decided to look into the eyes of his children and say, I'm going to help you build a pattern in a manner of life. I'm gonna lead by example, I'm gonna invest into you and then I'm gonna put you in environments that God can meet you, that will launch you into your purpose. You wanna know the answer to changing our society? If we're gonna wait for people to legislate change, it'll never happen. The answer is let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let every Christian home say, as for me at my house, we will serve the Lord and it's every parent, every grandparent rising up and saying, we're gonna build an altar, we're gonna lean into our kids and we're gonna pray, we're gonna believe, we're gonna invest and we're gonna lead by example and Jesus will do the rest. He will launch them into their purpose and we will see the salt and the light push back darkness and reinvigorate life again.  I know that sometimes when you hear a message like this because I've heard them, it's like, but man, it's so hard. You don't even know where to start or you begin to feel like I should have done this but I haven't done this. So how do I change? Very honestly, and this is true a lot of times for men because it's historically in the church, it's been women who take the leadership roles in the household, but I know that there's a lot of men who have a desire to be a man of God, a desire to lead their families. Just don't know how. They're insecure, they're intimidated by it. It's just easier to just let somebody else do it. Let her do it. Church do it. And we will do our part. We want to partner with you. But today, I just want to speak to every man in this room, every man at Portage, every man who's watching me online, you were created to reflect the father heart of God, to your family, to your wife, to your future wife, to society, you were created to be a leader and don't let any lie from our culture try to steal from you your God ordained calling to be a leader. And I want to speak to every mom and every woman in this room.   Don't let anybody tell you that your unique calling as a mother, as a woman, as a daughter of God, that you need to change it, culturally adapt it, that you need to pursue some achievement in this world in order to find your value. You were created by God with a unique set of skills that are dangerous to the gates of hell but are strengthening to the family. And if every single one of us will take our responsibility and just say, as for me, I will serve the Lord. I'm gonna invite you as families tonight to come. Prioritize it. I'm gonna invite those of you who are like, well, I don't have a family yet or my family's grown up.  We need you. Church is a family. And to prioritize, would you come tonight, would you pray? Let's lay a cornerstone of change for us individually, for our community, for the church and really society. It starts with us. To the degree that we take that seriously is the degree that God will meet us. I wanna invite our prayer team to come forward if they would and I'm gonna pray and dismiss in this morning. Here's the call. The call is whatever you need prayer for in just a moment, our prayer team will be available to pray for you but the call is to come back tonight at 6 p.m. And let's set a cornerstone of change as we seek and send. Heavenly Father, today we thank you for the grace of God that meets us and strengthens and empowers us and gives us the ability to do what we cannot do in our own strength, Lord. For every parent today, I'm asking for a new dimension of strength that comes from you, wisdom, discernment, knowledge, insight and I'm praying for every dad today, courage. I'm praying for every mom today, comfort. I'm praying for every child today, protection. And that you would do a work in us Lord that the stones of the family altar that maybe have fallen down are never been set in place. This would be a first step in building that. We wanna see the raising up of apostolic young people like Paul who will go into their culture, in the church, in the marketplace, in their schools and carry an anointing and carry the security that they have because they know that their purpose in calling is rooted in you. Help us to do that. And Lord help radiant church to be a pillar in that pursuit, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.


Hey, uh, yeah, coach, just going over some of the stuff here from from the game, um, you know, getting the big, you know, splash play from followers. That's something that could help the unit down the stretch. Uh, you know, so he's working his way back.  D led and obviously if you get a sack fumble, that could be a game changing play, but we're just continuing to try to strive to play more consistent. D led, uh, you know, everybody sees the highlights. It's the it's every down play after play after play. We're trying to improve and to get consistency across the board. And, uh, with that, you know, a lot of the rookies played a lot. Richie might, uh, most snaps for Darren second most for, um, for, for Richie and, um, you know, Audi's been getting his snaps all along. How are those guys developing for the defensive unit? Yeah, they're playing well. And again, you got to look into it, uh, you know, with, with the entire rookie class, they're all contributing in some way.  It doesn't mean that, you know, the hot takes from September. Well, Audi get thrown in there because of necessity and where we're at deathwise, same with Jalen Mayfield. Um, and they've done a nice job, but they're, the plan all along was to help these guys develop and bring them, bring them along the right way. So Richie, obviously when we signed to Ron and Eric, we knew we wanted to bring them along the right way. And he's contributing on teams and his role is starting to grow on defense. Uh, Darren Hall, same, same thing. So please, those guys, I mean, they, they're getting better every week. And the biggest, you know, uh, challenge now is to do it, do it again against Tampa. Against a pretty salty group over there on the Tampa's offense. And, uh, uh, I got to, we got to move on to other people here, but, uh, any news on Calvin Ridley as, uh, you know, he's played. D-Led, as soon as we get an update, we'll give you an update. I know you got to ask, but there's nothing to update. Nothing to update. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Michael. Yeah, a quick follow up on Calvin. Actually, do you at this point anticipate he'll be back this season? Look, I'm not going to predict anything. Again, take it day by day. And if there's an update, we'll let you guys know. Um, I can save you the question. Okay. Uh, I know we talked a lot about the center rotation yesterday. After you watched film, what did you, was there anything you saw different from looking at those two guys on film versus what you had, what you thought in the moment? Uh, pretty, pretty similar to what I thought at the moment. Um, I think you know, both guys are a little bit different players and, uh, I thought the competition brought out the best in both of them. So we'll see what the plan of attack is this week is with the game plan in But I thought, uh, Matt Innesy, he played solid and I thought Drew did a nice job coming in going in there. I think both of them have bright features. I know they're playing both playing center, but we'll see where it goes And I know this has been asked a few different times, a few different ways so far this year, but Why have y'all been able to figure out how to use Cordero When other teams it seems like for so long in his career, didn't Weren't able to get this type of production out of him? Uh, again, I wasn't in those other places and the only comparison I have is the same question I used to get asked about Ryan Tannehill, uh, different players, different parts of the career You wouldn't think of a lot of things in life. The experiences led you to this point that probably benefited them. So Uh, just to kind of set him circumstances here. He's done a really nice job I don't think it's just one thing You know where he fits what we're trying to do, uh, you know, what a bit is that? You know moving around we we had a pretty good grasp at it as he evolved in Chicago Some of the coaches we had That we have here that he had in Chicago So it's a combination of a lot of things, uh, but you know, we're happy. Happy is here Appreciate it. Thank you Josh You're muted, Josh It's always somebody it's like a uh episode like a sitcom First we started it off hot, you know, Bassie was panicking about our speaker I know D-Lettiman got his unmuted violator. I think I did it last week on a zoom call. So The the lack of downfield balls in the passing game yesterday Was that something they did coverage wise or does that go back to just getting open against man coverage? No, it's when they that's what the game It's the the games within the games Josh same thing that they didn't have a lot of deep balls either I think what you're seeing there was an interesting article written in the Wall Street Journal last week It's like what's old's new again a lot of you're seeing a lot of too high You're seeing a lot of soft zone.  They got to make a decision And then I think what you saw Adapting was one of those drives in the third quarter, you know the the nice thing about yesterday is You can keep them off balance and doesn't that just have to be run play pass You know screens and keepers and we can drop back and throw and you're gonna have to take what they give you and stay efficient And it's kind of becoming the key Josh, but when you see those corners play so far off Whether it's in single high or they play in different variations of two quarters I you're forcing you to complete the ball underneath and see if you'll go the the long hard way um Certainly, I think that's a you see as a trend in the NFL and So if that's what their game plan is we've got to be able to adapt and I thought we did a decent job of that yesterday Do you think what y'all put on tape run game wise yesterday changes the equation in terms of preparing for you offensively? Uh, it's probably a better question for maybe Todd balls, but um You know, we just got to keep it better as an offense and there's gonna be different challenges every week You know, obviously this will be a completely different front different scheme will play sunday here in Atlanta Uh, so, you know, we certainly just need to be stay balanced try to keep people off balance so you don't become too one to mention Tori Yeah, I wanted to go back really quickly to matt hennessey and drew dalman And I was just curious kind of from your perspective Do you think that it would be fair to say that you wouldn't have been able to do what you did at the center? We like with the center position in the rotation without matt ryan under center because I just feel like that's Probably something that only someone with his level of experience can handle I was just kind of curious what you thought of that Yeah, matt ryan's a big part of that and when we had those discussions I include matt on that because it does affect him Tori, that's a good question because It depends on the guy, you know, you're operating with they they may not be able to handle that But that that says a lot about matt ryan Like I said anything we think that can help this football team will try I don't think you know I don't care if it's been done before or not We'll try we think it can help us help this team. So certainly something we talked about as a staff I you know talked sat with matt hennessey and drew dalman both Talked him about the plan But they handled it well and ultimately matt ryan had to be involved in that as well because it does affect him And then kind of just switching gears to to the run game as well I know we're talking to cp last night and he said from last wednesday to sunday that there was a distinct emphasis That you put on this offensive unit It almost kind of sounded like there was a challenge there to to be better in the run and to put more Solid play in that regard on tape. And so I was just kind of curious like what was your challenge to them? What was those conversations like throughout the week? I'll keep those private Got it I'm gonna do a tenor you rent me out Yeah, piggybacking on that art what what what gave you the confidence to see that That's that's your because your running game came in. I know you said you wanted to kill the narrative But you came in ranked 31st in the league in rushing. So what gave you the confidence that you could you could do this? This is from experience and like I said, you can It's a long season things change so much week to week and there's you know progress that we think are close You just keep chipping away at it and there's some things we tweaked Um, but it just experience. I mean if you again There's a lot of variables that happen You're in year one and then you know every every game is going to tell a different story Yeah, you're gonna look at it Kim with this ability But if you can't improve in this business, okay If you come out and you start 3 and 0 and you have you know 400 yards a game And then all of a sudden you can fall off a cliff It doesn't really matter then the whole key to this thing is to be able to improve your football team You know week by week month by one month and you know, obviously There's obstacles along the way and if you if you buy into those and You act like it's broken and there's no way to fix it then shame on you. That's a kind of how I think George So, uh, we've been making progress. Maybe hadn't showed up yet, you know in the stats Uh, but felt like we were close Thank you and answer that for you Yeah, yeah Anybody else Michael Yeah, Arthur. I want to ask a little bit more about cop hits to What have you noticed that teams are doing? To I don't know maybe take him away a little bit or our teams doing things to take him away or is this a function of Being a rookie like I guess where where do you see some of the disconnect with his production lately? See a ton of disconnect Michael. It's disconnect. Maybe wasn't the right word on that. Yeah But where where do you think some of the long season long career Michael, you know, if Uh, you know, there's a lot of plays where if you're the primary You can try to force a ball into them the coverage that takes it goes Open things up for other guys, you know, Russell had a productive day yesterday You know Kyle's a rookie week to week There's a lot of attention on him great, you know, and he'll make his plays Said that we can live to the week to week narratives I know they already wanted to get his bus ready after my Miami or New Orleans whatever week it was and I'm sure somebody was ready to Get his hall of fame hall of fame speech ready. It's a long career long season We got six big games left for us Uh, very very pleased with Kyle. I wouldn't get overly concerned I think at the end of the day you probably ask Kyle whether you catch two balls or 10 balls The objective is to win and end the play better And I think that's what uh, that's why he's got the right mindset Are there any concerns with him dropping passes? It seems like there's been a couple over the last month that have been fairly open That he's dropped including one last week yesterday What did he drop yesterday? There was one I think it was it was a third quarter He was pretty open and just It wasn't clear if maybe the ball was tipped a little bit the line But it looked like it hit him in the hands Okay, mark him down for a drop. I'll tell um I'll tell Peeley to make sure he gives him a drop on that Is there is there any concern at this point with With some of that there's no concern buddy like it's like when you ask like it's Kyle's a good player. You're gonna be just fine You can be concerned We're not concerned. He's gonna he's gonna continue to work. He's at the right mindset He's had a he's had a pretty productive year. There's a lot of football left to be played um, so You know, I guess if you're you know, somebody had a month's fancy team yesterday I'm sure they're upset about the the stats all we're caring about is winning here and can we get better So we don't look at the concern Kyle's a good player. He's got great hands So you're concerned. I'll go back and and talk to Peele about about the drop he gave him All right Anybody else D-Led all right D-Led what you got Oh, you muted. Oh you followed josh up here Like I'm in a episode and there we go. Yeah, I usually do that. So, okay um You know what josh, it's kind of following up josh's question What Matt what is Matt seeing that he's having to hold the ball and then you know run Uh ran for a couple there um in the dude got changed the routes up or they just jumped from routes or stacking them Or I don't know what's he seeing there that uh, he's had holding the ball a little bit there You think he's holding the ball Yeah, yeah, he ran he had pulled it down and ran it four times there. I don't think those were designed runs Put a quarterback drawing. You don't even realize that D-Led Yeah, maybe I saw some of the soft coverage is there Early on on the play pass and so you either check it down to the flat. Okay the rush lands were Pretty pretty open and he took off and got a deposit play The other one was a protection Issue and that he made a hell of play the one he extended he talked about the mic data's But no, Matt's nice doing a pretty good job. Okay, what's your number? No, I'll put in the quarterback power with him All right, uh 18 sweet Yeah, um the um What was your film review of the blocking on the 12 yard touchdown run? Pretty damn good Okay. Yeah, that's what I thought too and uh, just looking ahead. We gotta try to do something on 10 for tomorrow. Um What are some of the dynamic? I mean it was week two, so it's two different teams now, uh, You know a lot a lot of uh football has been played since then Uh, you know, how do you all get ready for the world champs? What are some of the things we get ready for every week? There's a different set of challenges. Um, It's a talented football team that won a lot of games the last two years They got some good veteran players including, you know Markably the best quarterback to play so we gotta be ready to go and uh Guys should be should be excited. It's a big divisional game for us on sunday here. So Looking forward to the challenge good opportunity for us Thank you Anybody else? All right. Appreciate guys Thanks author. Nice back


Q is a really cool package I stumbled across the other day. If you've seen some of my previous videos, I've covered a few. Command line data wrangler tools like Miller and XSV. Q is something similar, but it uses SQL like syntax. You can run Q on one CSV or multiple CSVs and write SQL just like you would in a SQL database. So in the examples on their GitHub page, you'll see Q and then a select statement on a CSV. So to get started, I'm just going to go to the Debian package and download that. To do that, I'm just going to copy the link and head over to Blink. Here, I'm just running Wget and downloading that .deb file. And that's then you'll see that Q is not found. You have to run dpackage, install, and then the name of the file. Run sudo with dpackage, install. Now when we run Q, we'll see that we have a version for Q and we can start working with it. So for Q to work, you need a CSV file. I'm going to download the diamonds data set. Again, Wget and then the link to the file, the raw file. So now that we have diamonds.csv, we should be able to run a Q command. So Q has a nice documentation page. You can scroll through and see some of the example queries. So to run a Q command, what you have to do is you have to run these flags. H, O, D, and then a comma. The H means that your CSV has a header file. O means that when you output, you want to keep that header file output. The D specifies the delimiter. Here, this is comma delimited. So you do D, space, comma, and then you can run your Q statement. So for standard CSV files that have headers and you want to output a header and it's comma delimited, this is a flag. So Q dash H, O, D, comma, and then your SQL statement and quotes. So this is a simple select star from diamonds limit 10. Again, we are going to run a filter on it, a where statement, and we should see that the output satisfies this where statement. So I'm going to make this a little bit more realistic and install Tmux so I can have visit data in one Tmux session and my terminal to do a Q command in another Tmux session. So to install visit data, it's sudo apt install. I made a mistake of typing VD. VD is a command you run to open visit data. So VD diamonds dot CSV, this is the diamonds data set. Now we can look at this data set and go back and forth between the data and my Q statement. To go back and forth between Tmux panes, it is control B and that's what I do. Control B and I think N means next. At least that's what I've made it up to be in my mind to remember it. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to select the average price for a specific group and I can just go back and forth to make sure I'm selecting the group I want to select and there it is, average price. I'm just going to go ahead and add the cut column so you can see which cut the diamond is and the average price for that cut. Maybe I don't want to look at cut. I can look at carrot and let's change that first column to carrot also. There we go. For each carrot, you can see the average price. So this was just scratching the surface with Q. Of course, this is a terminal command. You'll see an example in their documentation where they pass process information, PS and pipe it to Q. And so you can pipe any system information to Q. It's a very well thought out command line utility. And I think it's a useful tool that data scientists can reach for for doing some really great data manipulation in a reproducible way. Thanks for watching.


I'm here with Jay Dylanyan from Intellibord. He's going to tell us a bit about how they help model users with Intellibord. Right, absolutely. Carlos, first of all, thank you very much. Intellibord, obviously, is an honored certified integration partner, and yet again, you guys have put on an amazing event. It's been an honor to be here. So just a little bit about Intellibord, the organization is an education, teaching, learning focused software company. We provide learning analytics for Moodle administrators, users, students. What is the problem that you want to solve with these analytics? Absolutely. So, you know, in this day and age, the data age, if you will, data is very much siloed, right? So it's distributed. It's powerful and it's not easy to access. So what Intellibord does is we make it easy to access. We work with those systems of record, whether it be a learning management system, or specifically Moodle, we bring that data together, we normalize it, we analyze it, and then we ultimately visualize it in a predictive manner, leveraging technology like AI and ML thoughtfully, ethically, so that we can get insightful information, critical data to the faculty, to the administrator, as it pertains to the student engagement level, to the effectiveness of the curricula, so that they then can make informed decisions and intervention measures to support that learner, right? And so... That sounds wonderful. You said it beautifully. Yeah, thank you. How is the conference being for you? So the conference has been amazing. We've met institutions on a global basis from all walks of life. We've met partners and we've had really, really productive conversations. In terms of how we help Moodle users win at the end of the day, it really is about student engagement. It's about fostering better student engagement, retention, persistence, and academic outcomes. And we live in an era right now where making mindful, intentional decisions that are data-driven are critical, and so that's what we're trying to empower.


What's up everybody Jason for Jasper's case breaks calm we just sold out 2020 panini donors optic football six box half case break Pay your teams number 10 Where we're giving away $250 if you buy two or more teams so how to get entered into that giveaway you have to buy Two or more teams so if you buy two teams you get one entry by four teams You get two entries by six teams you get three entries Etc. Etc. Remember if you only buy one team you will not be entered a win top five names win 50 bucks each in the Randomizer and has a little added bonus guys because we sold it out tonight We took out the Cowboys which were a $250 team and we're gonna give them away to everybody that bought a spot in this break So everyone's gonna have a shot at this no matter if you have one or two teams So basically the more teams you have the better chance you have to winning this and again Let's just randomize the cuz we're needs only for now. We'll do the giveaway for the break credit at the end of the break We'll roll the dice And we got a four and a three Which is lucky number seven seven times cuz right number one gets the Cowboys one two three four five six and Seventh and final time four and a three Peter Wow And I tell you could win the Cowboys you're over here like I need a I better get a one-on-one CJ Henderson Well, you just won the Cowboys You just got a $250 team for free just for buying in There you go four and a three All right, you guys and then Joe put PYT on these let you guys know some in the same case as number nine Not sure what he pulled in the first half guys, but I have pulled some fire at least let's continue it Don't know if there's been a downtown pulled yet on our PA But we will find out Optic has a lot to offer All right first box guys. Good luck. We got Tommy Stevens 299 the Viscussional Junior Cooper Cup Nick Chubb Bobby Wagner 299 Denzel Mims Josh Yousch Stafford Hollow My house Patty Mahomes Derek Carr a little Herbert Little Michael Pirine Hollow Patrick Queen Odell Beckham, Jr. Henry Ruggs Dalton Keene the 35 autograph Patricks, it's been a Karen Steele We have Beckham to 99 red for the Jets Jets Jets Jeff Ocuda raider rookie Jacob Beeson All right, next one. All right, next one Chase Claiborle for the Steelers raider rookie Shawn of that one 299 Justin Jefferson Cam Acres Hollow raider rookie That's Ram Steve Jason Huntley 299 Cope Matt Dominator Tom Brady We got Julio Jones Joey B Antoine Winfield, Jr. Gold to 10 for the Bucks I don't know Rubble wherever he wants really right I think it's gonna be either a contending team as it may be potentially the Bucks I don't know would it be cool to see him lined up with Aaron Donald in LA I can see him going to Green Bay being from Wisconsin or I can see him going to Pittsburgh playing with his brothers Zach Moss to 79 I think it's one of those 314s honestly Wow, look at that Justin Herbert Raider Rookie Disco How about that? 21 out of 125 Who has the Chargers? Shawn Matic There you go Nice Herb Nice Herbie Edwards Jamison Crowder Tom Brady Jordan Love A Red Zeke Number 299 Jedric Wolfs Khalil Mack Hopefully more Shawn I'm looking for an auto for you buddy and more color Alright, next box Was there any downtowns? In the first half Shawn? Was there? Maybe we can get more on this side of our RPA at least Drew Locke Clyde Edwards-Elair Kirk Cousins Justin Jefferson Blue for the Minnesota Vikings Steve Locke with that one 20 out of 179 Great the rainbow Steve You already got the green Grant Delpit Kyler Murray, second year Hollow Antonio Gandy-Golden Autograph Hollow That is for the Washington football team going to Mark And James Morgan, 35 out of 50 Raider Rookie Purple Swift George Kittle 79 Aaron Donald for the Rams C.D. Lamb T. Higgins, Raider Rookie Hollow Brady and Derrick Brown Nice little color match to 299 for the Carolina Panthers Alright, halfway through guys Aaron Jones Clyde Edwards-Elair Breeze Jason Huntley C.D. Lamb Cam Akers, Hollow Out of 10, Jeremy Chin Nice, that's two Two gold rookies out of 10 Those are Carolina Panthers Mark does And out of 79, Cesar Ruiz Derrick Carr Joey B Zeke And Brian Edwards Really man, 12 Anything numbered, Herbert, I think Is going to be expensive What? As I've been saying since college Last four years at Oregon He's the real deal George Kittle Joe Burrell And a Jake Luton That's the other quarterback at Oregon Oregon State that is Out of 125 Two left guys Lakers down two with 16 seconds left guys Rui Hachimura Guarding LeBron James Ooh, and one LaMichele Piran A.J. Brown Rezeek Blue Justin Jefferson What a J.K. Dobbins, very nice Black Pandora I look sweet with that purple 16 out of 25 Sean, didn't you just get the Ravens Not too long ago? That was one of the last few teams Nice Another out of 10 This time it's Teddy Bridgewater That's our third gold George Kittle Mike Kiseki Travis Kelsey Hollow Tom Brady Jake Fromm I thought it was Herbert there for a second Joe Reid though Color, it's a 299 Last box guys I'll try to get you some nice Raider stuff But nothing color Or autos at least Actually that was a Derek Hart color But let's get you a little bit more Wow Lamar Jackson Mythical and is this a gold mythical Wow it is 2 out of 10 Last few teams taken Ravens going to Sean Very nice man That's our fourth gold guys Honestly Not the craziest names besides the Lamar Jackson But still another gold Champions here Thierry Sunnard Colts Going to Kurt Jeff Ocuda for the Detroit Lions Going to Justin Alright, all the hits should be right here guys Good luck Yuto Gros Maud though, nice break for the Carolina Panthers Zach Moss Is that a Black Pandora Elite series? Wow it is 13 out of 25 That's DeAndre Swift That's awesome Dugora Is your autograph Green Bay Packers Going to Sean as well CJ Henderson Adam Thielen Wow we have two mythicals Jordan Love Sean you have yourself quite a few teams But hey man Mythical Patty Mahomes Hall Kansas City And Clyde Edwards Lair to 79 Alrighty and there you go guys So we're going to give away some break here right now But I'll do a quick little recap A lot of color Popping out of here a lot of rookies of course Rugs over there You got Fromm, Edwards Justin Jefferson Lots of lots of rookies Then you got some colors Patty Mahomes Edwards color Rugs, little of the rookies Spurrow base Herber base Yeah there you go there's all that color Rookie stuff And here we go So Clyde Edwards Lair Mythical Jordan Love Josea Dugara autograph Mythical Gold Lamar Jackson Gold Teddy Bridgewater Black Pandora JK Dobbins at 25 autograph to 10 Antonia Gannon, Justin Jefferson color to 179 Dalton Keen autograph To 35 Herbert To 125 Claypool to 299 And Antoine Moonfield Jr to 10 I got like four golds in here guys So I appreciate everybody this was Optic Football Six box half case break picker teams number 10 On jazby's casebreaks.com This switch seems really quick And let's see who got two or more teams Alright Let's get a new dice roller list And let's alphabetize the customer names So AJ just one team Benjamin got two David with just one I with one, two, three, four So that's two entries Jeffrey Myers with one, John D to one Justin with one, Karen with one Kerr with one, Mark and Matt with one each Matthew S Patrick Davis with two And Peter even though you didn't technically buy a second one you do have two teams in this break there regardless That was just an extra giveaway Robert with one Sean with 7 So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven So he has only three entries for you Sean And Steve with two Alright so 11 out of the possible 15 Go roll it You got ourselves a three and a five 8 times, top five give 50 bucks each One Two Three Four Five And it was three more times for eight, six Seven Eight Alrighty and there you go Eight times Five, three, three, five Benjamin, Sean, I, I and Matt L So there you go, top five give 50 bucks back And I'll give you guys a very critical send out to you Right now at the end of this video


The next item of business is a statement by Mary McCallan on A9 dueling programme. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and hence there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Mary McCallan, cabinet secretary, up to 10 minutes please. Thank you very much. Following the Deputy First Minister's budget statement yesterday, I'm very pleased to have the chance to provide more detail on completing the dueling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness. I know that this statement is keenly anticipated, especially by those who are concerned to see safety improvements that have been developed on the A9 and for the many Scottish communities and businesses for whom the A9 is essential. I am acutely aware of the strength of feeling on this issue. The programme has faced challenges and I acknowledge that it has not progressed at the pace that we would have liked. There have of course been particular challenges with sky-high inflation, causing slippage in major capital projects. However, the A9 is the backbone of Scotland. It must be safe, reliable and resilient, and that is what this Government will deliver. When I assumed responsibility for transporting Cabinet in June, my primary objectives for the A9 project were threefold. First, to oversee amendments to transport Scotland's approach to procurement of its design and build contracts, to improve prospects and to avoid a repeat of last year's experiences with the section between Tumatyn and Moy. Secondly, to finalise a delivery plan for dualling the remaining sections of the programme, which foregrounded certainty of delivery but also carefully balanced it against considerations of market capacity, affordability and the need to minimise disruption on the network. Finally, in the meantime, to progress interim safety interventions short of and in anticipation of dualling. I will address each of those issues today. While focusing my remarks principally on the remainder of the programme, a word first on Tumatyn to Moy. Following the outcome of the first procurement for the section, Transport Scotland undertook extensive market consultation with the construction industry in order to gather views on how its major roads project could generate improved tender competition. As a result of this engagement, the new engineering contract with amendments was adopted for use on a new procurement for Tumatyn to Moy. This change in contracting approach was welcomed by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association. The new engineering contract is preferred by the industry and is widely used across the UK, with the terms and conditions adopted by Transport Scotland now offering a more balanced approach to the sharing of risk between Scottish ministers and those with whom we contract. I can confirm that on 11 December this year, invitations to participate in dialogue were issued to three shortlisted contractors and it is expected that award of this contract will take place in early summer 24, with the completed dualling expected to be operational by the end of 2027. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has been determinedly considering procurement options for dualling the remaining eight sections. Options considered include procuring all projects using either a design and build contract or a mutual investment model known as MIM, which is used by the Welsh Government and a public-private partnership contract, or indeed we considered a hybrid of both approaches. We have also considered carefully how works are sequenced to provide an efficient overall programme that is aligned with the market's capacity to deliver, which minimises disruption to road users and which is achievable within the wider financial constraints. Of course, as the Deputy First Minister outlined yesterday, the UK, having not inflation-proofed its capital budget, has left us with a nearly 10 per cent real terms cut in our capital funding between 2324 and 2728. That has been a complex exercise, but the Government has concluded that the hybrid approach is the best way to complete the A9 dualling programme. I can therefore confirm that the Government will progress the three remaining A9 dualling projects at the southern end of the route via three capital-funded design and build contracts. We then anticipate progressing the five remaining projects in the north and central stretches via two resource-funded MIM contracts. That is subject to on-going due diligence and further decision-making in late 2025 and will be based on an updated assessment of expected market conditions. I can confirm today that, in progression of this delivery plan, work will begin immediately on preparations for the procurement for the next design and build contract, which will be for the Tay crossing to Ballan Lug project, with the contract notice planned for publication in spring 2024 and award anticipated in summer 2025. In addition, procurement of the Pitlockery to Kelly Cranky project and subject to completion of statutory processes, the passive Burnham to Tay crossing, will commence in summer 2025 and summer 2027, respectively. Subject to decision-making in late 2025, procurement for the two remaining northern projects under a single MIM contract could then commence in winter 2027, with the second MIM contract comprising the remaining three central projects commencing procurement in 2829. That hybrid approach will create a rolling programme of construction, which will lead to the progressive opening of the jewelled sections. Under the new plan, by the end of 2030, we anticipate that nearly 50 per cent of the A9 will be open as jewelled carriageway, rising to 85 per cent by the end of 2033 and eventually 100 per cent by the end of 2035. That means that we will see significant benefits from the jewelling programme years ahead of that backstop in 2035. I should say that we have published all the details of the programme on our Transport Scotland website today. As part of our work, we have also prepared updated scheme cost estimates for each project. The total cost of the programme is now estimated at £3.7 billion at April 23 prices. When adjusted for inflation, that is equivalent to £2.45 billion at April 2008 prices, which the chamber will note, is well within the original cost estimate of £3 billion at 2008 prices. That is cost. I want to talk about safety. The improved safety that is expected from jewelling is absolutely crucial. I wish to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt sympathies and my condolences to anyone who has lost a loved one or indeed who has been injured in collisions on the A9. Dwyling will see driver stress and accidents reduced. Likewise, the severity and journey times for emergency vehicles will also be reduced. Dwyling offers resilience, limiting the need for lengthy diversions. At the same time, the A9 is critical to the movements of freight, business and leisure travellers. Dwyling improves reliability and the average times of journeys by 20 per cent. That is transformative for a route that serves 35 per cent of our land mass and carries around 10 per cent of Scotland's GDP in terms of cargo. Investment in the route will help to grow the economy, but the impact is wider than economic. The A9 is the backbone that connects Central and Highland Scotland, and for the 10,000 people living along it, it is often the only connection to vital services. It will also maximise the range of opportunities for contractors and their long supply chains. The programme will ensure that the link between two of Scotland's great cities is safe and fit for purpose for everyone who needs to use it both now and in the future. Comprehensive stakeholder engagement on this plan will begin early in the new year, building on extensive engagement to date. I will today write to interested MSPs inviting them to a briefing in Parliament as a first step. Regular engagement will continue as the programme progresses, including, of course, with local communities and on their individual projects. In the meantime, anyone with an interest in the A9 can sign up for updates at www.89juling.scot prior to the full launch of a new A9 juling website early in the new year. We will also advertise engagement opportunities here and through traditional and social media. Decisions to complete the statutory processes are now complete for over 92 per cent of the programme. We will complete the statutory processes for the three outstanding schemes with ministerial consent next year and will acquire the necessary land to support the procurement timetable. The only project not to have yet started that process is the Passive Burnham to Tay Crossing. I would like to take the chance to thank the local community for their valuable input through the co-creative process. Today, I can announce that the preferred route for this section is confirmed and that it includes a number of the elements of the community's preferred options, including around about it and held, and the junction layouts at the Hermitage and Dalguese. Further details of the preferred route, like the programme itself, are available on Transport Scotland's website, and local communities and rose users will have the opportunity to comment on the plans at public exhibitions in January. In the time that I have left, I would like to say a word on safety before concluding. Having updated on Tumat and Tumoi and the remainder of the programme, I just want to close with safety, because since 2007, this Government has invested £300 million in the maintenance and safety of the A9 and a further £3.6 million on average speed cameras. Following the tragic loss of life that occurred on the route in particular in 2022, we have been investing an additional approximate £5 million, and I am pleased to confirm that those safety measures are progressing at pace with a number of elements completed. Of course, those include enhancements to signing and road markings, emphasis junctions and those vital transitions between dual and single carriageways. As with the rest of the trunk road network, the safety performance of the A9 will continue to be regularly reviewed. Time is against me, but to conclude, this Government is restating its commitment today to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness, and we are doing that with a concrete plan. The approach that I have set out means that the Highlands can have confidence, that the considerable benefits of the A9 dualling programme will be delivered and in full. Now that we have reached this point, there will be no let-up when construction starts on Tamatyn Timoe next year under this delivery programme. It will roll continually until the route between Perth and Inverness is fully dualled. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes after which time we will move on to the next item of business, and it would be helpful if those members who would wish to ask a question were to press the request-to-speak buttons. I call Murdo Fraser. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement, although we have been waiting for this update since February, and here we are on the second-last sitting day of the year. Our wait here is as nothing compared to the wait of the people of Perth and Inverness and the Highlands and Islands who have been waiting for years to see this vital project completed with an SNP Government in Perth who have delivered a mere 11 miles of dual carriageway in 16 years. Throughout that period, too many lives have needlessly been lost and more will die as a result of the delays that we have heard about today. At best, we will be waiting another 12 years for this project to be completed and that is the most optimistic outcome that we can hope for. The cabinet secretary did her best to deflect criticism on to the UK Government, but I would generally remind her that the SNP had kept their promise to complete the dualling by 2025, and the challenges that she identifies with inflation and her Government's capital budget would not have been an issue. Today, Presiding Officer, we were expecting to hear that a contract had been placed for the Tamaten-Tamoi section. Even that has not been delivered. Instead, the best that we have is an expectation that there will be a contract award in summer next year. One year on, from where we were at the start of this year, we are precisely no further forward. Can I ask the cabinet secretary three things? Firstly, what guarantees can she give us that that contract award for Tamaten-Tamoi will now actually be done and on the timescale that she has outlined, given all the slippage and timescales that we have seen in the past? Secondly, in relation to the remaining sections, what confidence can we have that the timescales set out today are actually deliverable, even supposing that the funding can be found? Thirdly, how confident is the minister that there is appropriate civil engineering contracting capacity to carry out those works? What discussions has she held with industry to determine their willingness to tender for the contracts that are being proposed? I thank Murdo Fraser for his question, and I should like to begin by acknowledging his point about a delay in my update. I had hoped to give this update some weeks ago, and I am always seeking to expedite progress in that regard. Unfortunately, the A9 dualling project is a complex project. Indeed, it is actually a living complex project, but as of today, it is a complex project with a comprehensive delivery plan. I hope that even Murdo Fraser can welcome that. I think that the critical theme in all of the points that he raises is about certainty. The plan that we have set out today has sought to foreground certainty of delivery, but, as I said in my statement, we have carefully balanced that with the other factors that we must consider, namely the need to minimise disruption, market capacity and affordability. With all of that taken into account, what we are publishing today provides the greatest certainty that I am able to provide, bearing in mind that this is a large project with significant complexities, significant interdependencies, all of which are susceptible to a variety of external factors, not least the financial volatility that we have become accustomed to under Murdo Fraser's Government. The SNP first committed to dual A9 back in 2007. Today, 16 years on, and excuse after excuse after excuse later, the Cabinet Secretary expects us to be happy that, by 2030, 23 years after the 2007 commitment, it will have completed less than 50 per cent of the project. With a new day of 2035, for completion between Perth and Inverness, some 28 years after the initial promise, one has to wonder how on earth can the Cabinet Secretary say, with a straight face, that the Highlands can have confidence that the A9 dualing programme will be delivered and in full? So can I ask the Cabinet Secretary, does she have the confidence that this Government is even capable of delivering infrastructure projects off the scale? This Government has got a proud history of delivering major projects. Absolutely, there are a plethora of major projects, and I have absolute confidence, but I am not complacent at the same time, and that is why we have spent time. As I set out since I had responsibility for this, I have been determined to spend time finding all the ways possible to increase certainty in this project. That has involved updating our business case, it has involved spending considerable time and Transport Scotland spending considerable time engaging with the industry to update our approach to contracting under design and build contracts, and it has all brought together this new plan, which, for the first time, anticipates using a hybrid model of funding options that are available. That is an example of the Government using every tool that it is disposable and working exceptionally hard to give the confidence to the Highlands and to everyone who I accept has been waiting too long that this will be completed on a rolling basis of construction, with 50 per cent completed by 2030, 85 by 2033 and 100 per cent dualling by the end of 2035. In welcoming the reaffirmation of the Government's commitment to dualling the A9, which builds on the successful completion of a range of capital projects, including the Queensferry crossing, the M74 completion, the M8 completion, the Aberdeen Western peripheral route completion, the Airdrie to Bathgate railway and the Borders railway, and the acceptance by the cabinet secretary of a number of the proposals made by my constituents in the Dynkeld and Burnham area regarding the design of the route at that particularly challenging site. Would the cabinet secretary agree to further engage it from herself, the transport minister and their officials with community groups in Dynkeld and Burnham about the design issues and also crucially on short-term improvements that could be made to road safety in advance of the dualling works being undertaken? I thank Mr Swinney for so eloquently reeling off the plethora of major projects that this Government can be very proud for having delivered. On the point about his locality, I would like to thank the Burnham to Ballan U again A9 community group for its work in working with us in a co-creative process that has helped to broaden our vision for the A9 dualling project through this really important route. The transport minister and I truly value the input that they have made to the process and building on the positive relationship that's been established, I should like to reassure Mr Swinney that we will continue to engage with him, with his local community and all of that as we continue to develop this section of the A9 which of course has taken a big step forward today. Indeed, I can advise that Transport Scotland officials are meeting the Burnham to Ballan Lug A9 community group later this afternoon to discuss that preferred route option and of course, as I mentioned in my statement, we will be holding those public exhibitions locally in January for the community. Time and time again SNP ministers have come to this chamber, appeared in front of committees or pledged in public that the A9 will be dualled in full between Inverness and Perth and by the promised 2025 date. That was despite all evidence being to the contrary. We now know that since 2018 they were not being honest. The Scottish Government knew because officials told them that the 2025 date was unachievable but it wasn't until last year nearly five years later that SNP ministers finally came clean. So can I ask the cabinet secretary how can local businesses, those who live along the route of the A9 and those who have lost loved ones on the road, trust this Government to finely deliver on these new, even more vague promises when they have been lied to so many times before? I am not sure that that was parliamentary language but that is entirely your decision to adjudicate on. Cabinet Secretary, please assume your seat. I heard what the member said and I noted carefully in the way in which she phrased it. It is of course absolutely unacceptable to refer to another member as having lied or being untruthful. I felt that the way in which it was phrased did not quite fall within that bracket and indeed it would be for me in the chair. Thank you. The member's question centred on the inquiry that the Public Petitions Committee is currently undertaking, which is a retrospective look on the progress of the programme to date. I am concerned that my statement to date is about looking forward but I have agreed to appear in front of the Public Petitions Committee to assist them in their important inquiry. Indeed, some of the documents that Mr Halcro Johnston referred to are part of the very many that the Scottish Government has handed over to the inquiry. I think that Mr Halcro Johnston will find that he will have to correct the record at some point in the future. It was not and the papers make this entirely clear and I will certainly reiterate at committee, it was not until late 2022 that Transport Scotland knew for certain that the 2025 date was not deliverable. A number of the papers that Mr Halcro Johnston is speaking to talk, for example, about moving only to a MIM model and the deliverability of that by 2025, they did not mention capital design and build. As I say, I am happy to appear in front of the committee and discuss those matters on the retrospective account. I am looking forward today with this optimum delivery plan. Can the cabinet secretary say a bit more about the mutual investment model that she referenced in her statement? What it entails and what the advantages of it are? Yes, absolutely. I am happy to. The mutual investment model, as I said in my statement, is one that has been developed and used by the Welsh Government. It is a form of public-private partnership that is similar, in many respects, to a non-profit distribution contract that was previously used in a number of major road projects, including some of those that Mr Swinney narrated. The principal advantage that such a contract offers is that it provides additional investment through the use of private finance to deliver infrastructure projects and reduces the level of annual expenditure by spreading payments over a longer period of time. However, it represents a significant long-term financial commitment and requires a detailed consideration of market conditions, especially inflation and the cost of borrowing. That is why we, in a prudent manner, have built-in decision-making points within the programme. We will consider how appropriate it is to move to a MIM, given prevailing market conditions at the time. I call Rhoda Grant to be followed by Fergus Ewing. Presiding Officer, the announcement that one section will be dualled in the next four years is not going to pacify the anger of my constituents due to the lack of progress. The Government knew that it was not going to meet its 2025 promise yet tried to hide that. Can I ask if she will give detail to the key differences between design and build and mutual investment models and where the risk for each lies? Will she tell my constituents how they can realistically gauge progress towards completion for themselves given the Government's deception in the past? I hope that the member was listening to my response to Jamie Halcro Johnston when I made absolutely clear that it was not until 2022 that Transport Scotland knew for sure that 2025 was not achievable. Scottish ministers updated the Parliament shortly thereafter. Rhoda Grant, in referring to one section being completed in the coming years, is missing the point that I have been trying to stress, which is that this is a 12-year programme, but one of rolling construction. When spades are in the ground for tomato and tamoy section next summer, we will see rolling construction right through to 2035. As I say with that progressive opening, 50 per cent by the end of 2030, 85 per cent by 2033 and 100 per cent by the end of 2035, so that people who I accept rely on this route so fundamentally can enjoy the safety and economic and other benefits that come from dualling in advance of the completion of the entire programme. On the way to the chamber this afternoon, and quite by chance, I bumped into an Invernesian who reminded me that he had lost friends on the A9. That was a salutary reminder of the force behind this campaign. In any campaign, it is wise to accept victory where it occurs and to be magnanimous. It is said that to be prepared is half the victory, and I think that she will agree that we are not as yet fully prepared. Will she acknowledge that many, including myself, will continue to remain sceptical until they see even the diggers on the road and that the statement today, whilst on the face of it encouraging, involves a huge amount of work ahead? In conclusion, there must be no more slippage, no more delays and no more broken promises. I want to thank Fergus Ewing for his contribution today, but equally for his determined campaigning on this matter. Of course, since I have been in post but long before that as well, he mentioned in his opening remarks about the loss of life. Of course, that is the principal issue at the forefront of this. I attended an event with Fergus Ewing over the summer, organised by the P&J and the Inverness Courier, where we were joined by family members of the bereaved. I can assure Fergus Ewing and the chamber that that experience will never leave me and has been with me in all the work that we have been seeking to do as a team ever since. I would not expect Fergus Ewing to be anything other than sceptical—helpfully sceptical, I hope—moving forward, but I can assure him, as I have to other members, that what we have tried to produce today is the greatest possible certainty in a fairly uncertain world. I can assure him that, although I cannot prevent issues from arising where they arise, the Government will seek to overcome them as quickly as possible. Yesterday, we heard of another serious crash on the A9 near Invergordon, and my thoughts are with those taken to Aberdeen royal infirmary after the collision. That highlights the known dangers of the A9 in its current state. There was news last week that, in 2018, it was thought that the target to dual the A9 between Inverness and Perth by 2025 was unachievable, yet ministers didn't change course to address this, and 77 miles of the A9 are still not dualed. The new timeline will mean years of delay from the original commitment, and I must say that I'm surprised that there was no apology anywhere in the Cabinet Secretary's statement about this. So can I ask the Cabinet Secretary what guarantees can the Scottish Government provide this time that the new dates are realistic, and we will see completion by the new date? Beatrice Wishart, and I echo to her what I have to Fergus Ewing and a number of others, which is to I suppose reassure her in the first instance that that certainty of delivery that she and others is seeking is what has driven the development of this plan. Whilst it would be a little foolish to suggest that in a project of this scale and this complexity that issues won't arise, of course they will, I give her the same commitment that I have given to Fergus Ewing and others, which is that when they arise, where they arise, the Government will seek to address them as quickly as possible. She's absolutely right to acknowledge the accident that occurred near Tomach this week. My sympathies and that of all my colleagues are with those who have been involved. We are awaiting further details, but I also want to thank the emergency services who were so promptly on the scene. That relates to another part of Beatrice Wishart's question, which is about how the dueling is principally a safety issue. I have very much at the forefront of my mind how driver stress, how driver frustration will be reduced by dueling, how the severity of accidents will be reduced by dueling, because we know it's head-on collisions, which are the most difficult and fatal. Of course, emergency vehicles access will be quicker not just where there's accidents on the road, but for the 10,000 people who live along the route. I call Kate Forbes to be followed by Edward Benton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. My declaration of interest that I probably spend about 10 hours every week on the A9. The Cabinet Secretary may recall just a matter of weeks ago that the Tory said that dueling the A9 would take a century, so I've never been more thankful that she's in charge with an updated deadline of 2035 and not them. But can I also pay tribute to the Highlanders who have waited patiently for the A9 to be dualled? There are spokespeople, not least the Inverness Courier, who are here today. Certainty really matters. In order to restore trust, we have to keep communities regularly informed so that there are no surprises. How do we do that so that they can trust the pronouncements made by the Government and that progress is genuinely being made? I understand entirely the sentiments that Kate Forbes has expressed. My clear objective today is to set out that this is a new, optimal delivery plan and it is a concrete one that the approach that we have set out means that people in the Highlands and those who travel there can have confidence that all of those considerable benefits of A9 dueling that we know exist will be realised as efficiently as we can. As I said, I will repeat now that we have reached that point and there will be no let-up. Under that plan, under that rolling delivery programme, we will see continual work and continual construction until the route is finished. She is quite right to point out that research by the Conservative Party pointed recently to this potentially taking 111 years. I hope that even they will welcome the fact that it is going to take about a tenth of that time. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. In the last, in the dark days of winter, we now get the promised autumn statement on the A9. I suppose better late than never considering the time we've been waiting for this project. Considering the Government's record, how can Scots believe that it can only deliver a miserable seven miles a year of dueling to complete this project by 2035? Surely we should expect more in the fact that you've failed to deliver a long-standing promise. Presiding Officer, again I would just point out to Edward Mountain at the irony, I suppose, that his party were compiling what they call research, what I would call a little ridiculous, whereas they were compiling those press releases. Thankfully, the Government, taking this serious issue very seriously, were working hard to overcome the barriers that we need to in order to present this comprehensive plan today. That includes, as I have said, looking closely at our business case, updating that, working with industry to improve the manner in which we procure, design and build contracts and building this plan, which, as I have said, foregrounds certainty of delivery, but considers market capacity, considers affordability and ensures that there will not be unmanagible disruption on the route. The cabinet secretary has rightly highlighted safety on the A9 as being the overriding priority. The green group is behind appropriate action needed to cut casualties and tragedies on the road, but given that the A9 programme will not be completed until the mid 2030s, can I ask what other options to improve safety on the A9 have been reviewed while, of course, staying on track to meet our legally binding climate targets? I am grateful to Mark Ruskell for highlighting what, as I have said, is the principal driver of this work, as far as the Government is concerned, and that is the improvement of safety. As I mentioned in my statement, since 2007, the Government has invested 300 million in the safety and maintenance of the A9 and a further 3.6 million on average speed cameras, which I think that everybody would accept and made a difference, but it does not go as far as Dooling itself will. In addition, following that quite marked increase in accidents that occurred during 2022, we responded with an additional £5 million in road safety measures. Those have included enhancements to signing and road markings, with a particular emphasis on junctions and the transition between Dooling's single carriageway, which we know can be difficult. The introduction of average speed cameras, the work of Police Scotland, targeted education campaigns and the on-going management and maintenance of the route have helped to reduce accidents and casualties from that long-term trend that we were seeing, with the exception of 2022. That remains at the foreground of our thinking. The statement on the Scottish Government's response to the section 35 order judicial review was sent to me at 16 minutes past 3 this afternoon. Statements are usually sent within sufficient time that allows MSPs to read over and scrutinise the minister's statement prior to arriving in the chamber. Sending a statement through four minutes before business is scheduled is discourteous to elected members in this Parliament. Can the Presiding Officer assist me in understanding why the Government is withholding statements from MSPs until the last minute? Does she believe that this is good practice as MSPs are restricted from being able to do their job for holding this Government to account? I thank Ms Gallacher for her point of order. I would say that, in terms of the guidance from the Presiding Officer, provision of statement in due time is very important and is a mark of the Government showing courtesy and respect to individual members. Vis-à-vis the specifics of the case, I would advise Ms Gallacher that the Presiding Officer herself, who will be taking the chair for the next item of business, will address that issue further.