The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 2-1-3-1, in the name of Miles Briggs, on Edinburgh waiver listation access arrangements. This debate will be concluded without any questions. Would those members who wish to speak in the debate please press their request-to-speak buttons now? I call on Miles Briggs to open the debate around seven minutes, please, Mr Briggs. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank you for the additional time that you have given to allow my constituents to join us in the public gallery. I thank colleagues from across the chamber who have supported my motion. I'd also like to thank the thousands of constituents across Edinburgh and Lothian and beyond who have signed my petition either off or online. Both have demonstrated the real public interest and anger surrounding this subject. I'd like to welcome to the public gallery a number of my constituents who have been campaigning on the issue, including Dennis and Pat Wilson, Ian McInnes and Moira Vaughan, of the Edinburgh access panel, which has done such a huge amount of work on the issue, as well as representatives of RNIB and the Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance. All of us can agree that blind, disabled, infirm and elderly residents should have the same access to transport services as anyone else in Scotland. Sadly, since the taxi ranks were removed from within Waverly Station in 2014, many of those people feel they have become second-class citizens when it comes to accessing the station. Blind and disabled people who are used to some of the best drop-off and pick-up arrangements in the country feel they have been badly let down and that their independence has been totally undermined. Disabled constituents tell me that navigating their way around Waverly Station and trying to find lifts in escalators can be extremely difficult and frustrating and, in some cases, dangerous, as escalators pose a particular challenge for guide dogs. I am sorry to say that some disabled constituents have told me that they have decided to avoid Waverly Station altogether as they do not want to have to rely on the assistance of others. In many cases, it has only been because of the kindness of fellow Edinburgh residents and the city's fantastic taxi drivers that they have been able to access the station and get on to train services at all. Andy Cabs can be used by disabled travellers and Edinburgh users have told me that the services that they currently provide are excellent, but they have also told me that they have to book two weeks in advance, removing the option of more spontaneous travel. Perhaps after a week that the transport ministers had, he would prefer to know the movements of everyone in Scotland two weeks in advance. However, the question that I put to the minister today is why should the blind, disabled and elderly residents that I represent across Lothian have to plan their travel arrangements two weeks in advance? The current Andy Cabs service for drop-offs is facing being made less accessible in the future if this is moved to Carlton Road when the south ramp space is utilised for platform extensions. Disabled visitors to the capital are, of course, usually unaware of the Andy Cabs service. Many tourists coming to Edinburgh for the very first time have faced standing outside in all weathers on neighbouring streets waiting for taxis, often having struggled outside to Market Street or Princess Street with heavy luggage. Some have had to queue for long periods, especially during the festival, hardly creating a good impression of our capital city. I remain very concerned that the decisions to remove the taxi ranks in 2014 was implemented before adequate alternative arrangements were put in place. This is deeply regrettable. A committee of this Parliament looked into this issue and called for action on better access provisions back in the summer of 2015, but we are still waiting for those to be delivered upon. I met with Network Rail representatives and Waverly station management at the station last week and they briefed me on their plans, which were confirmed in the press on Monday for a new taxi rank at New Street Car Park. This is welcome news in as far as it goes, but this will only offer a limited improvement for able-bodied travellers as it is just a taxi pickup rank and not one where passengers can be dropped off within the footprint of the station. This rank will also be considerably further away from the central parts of the station compared to previous ranks, so there will still be the real challenge for blind, disabled and informed travellers who will need to use a number of lifts and stairs to get to their platforms and into the central concourse of the station. Therefore, I will continue to press rail bosses to look at additional and improved drop-off and pickup arrangements, and to work with the Edinburgh access panel and other stakeholders to achieve this. Specifically, I hope that a north ramp option for taxis could be reconsidered in another way of getting deliveries into the station, can be found and thus freeing up this area, and I urge Network Rail to explore all possibilities around this. The responsibility for ensuring a quality of access to transport services ultimately lies with the Scottish Government and the Transport Minister. There are questions to be answered as to why it has taken more than two years since taxi ranks were removed to come up with the limited proposals for a pickup rank at New Street, which will not be in place towards the end of next year. The Scottish Government should have been doing far more to ensure that a Waverly station is made truly accessible for all travellers. Waverly is, after all, a strategic national transport hub, a gateway to Scotland and one of the busiest stations in the whole country. The Transport Minister said fine words when he recently launched Scotland's first accessible travel framework, stating, it is important for us to confirm the commitment to making it easier for those with a disability to travel. I agree. I know from the meetings that I have had with the Transport Minister that he genuinely wants to see progress on those issues. I will close by calling on the minister to put those words into action on Waverly station and press Network Rail to make further improvements that will make the station's drop-off and pickup arrangements truly fit for purpose and, generally, accessible for all travellers, including blind, disabled and elderly residents. May we have open speeches of around four minutes, please? I call Neil Findlay to be followed by Gordon Lindhurst. Thanks very much, Presiding Officer. I thank Miles Briggs for bringing forward this debate and also I apologise to him and yourself because I have to leave for the convener's meeting after my contribution. I want to pay tribute to Ronnie Wilks and John Hutchison, who are two campaigners who work to improve the rights of passengers. John is a constituent of mine and a wheelchair user. Ronnie is blind, both are regular train users. He worked previously with my colleague Sarah Boyack during her time in this Parliament and I have been working with him over the last few months. In September, we met with senior officials of ScotRail at Waverly station to discuss a whole range of issues relating to disabled travel and access issues in and around Waverly station. Of course, we have to recognise that if we were going to plan and build the major railway station for the capital city, we would not build it where it is now at the bottom of a steep valley in between Princess Street and Market Street where access issues and layout restrictions hamper every move. Although, as the old gag goes, it was really considerate of them to build the castle next to the railway station. Any work at Waverly is challenged by its geography, but that should not prevent us from doing everything possible to improve access at the station for all passengers. Without doubt, there is a need for improved taxi services and access to allow passengers to transit through the station and beyond to their destination. As a daily commuter, I find getting to and from platforms and dealing with platform changes frustrating and often very unclear for passengers with mobility problems using wheelchairs or with a visual impairment. That frustration must be even greater. The taxi rank issue in the station is very important, but Ronnie and Joanne have raised with me a host of other issues. They have suggested a possible further drop-off point on Calton Road. They have suggested simple things like putting a seat and a rail panel at the help point in the station, changing the rail information desks to the rail information and access desks so that disabled travellers know exactly where to get help and advice. Developing a passenger body system with volunteers to assist passengers who need help to access services, transit through the station or get to a bus or taxi. They want to look at the use of new IT and phone apps to make the whole journey experience better, ensuring the passenger assist service in particular works as it should do. I know that new mobile phone apps are being trialled and look forward to their roll-out if successful. They also suggest having a scooter higher system at stations so that people with limited mobility can enjoy this great city just like everyone else. There are a whole host of other suggestions that I will not go into at the moment. If we think that the past few weeks have been bad for passengers, then think how bad that experience of late trains, cancelled services, overcrowded carriages is for our disabled friends and relatives. I hope that the rail authorities can advance the work of the group that has already set up and the suggestions that have come from my constituents. We all want to see a railway that is accessible for everyone in Scotland. Gordon Lindhurst, followed by Ash Denham. Let me thank my colleague Miles Briggs for bringing this debate to the Scottish Parliament and let me also pay tribute to his efforts to ensure that taxis can once again enter waverly station. He has eloquently set out the most important aspects of this issue. It is, of course, more than two years since public outcry when the taxis were stopped from entering the station. I welcome the announcement that taxis will be able to pick up passengers near the station again, but we are only halfway there. I am unclear as to why Network Rail did not go the full way towards providing a full service to passengers to allow them to be dropped off as well. It is also disappointing to note the distance of the rank from the previous ranks in more central parts of the station, as has already been mentioned. This is a vital service for many different people. As has been touched upon, taxi pickup and drop-off facilities are vitally important for disabled and elderly people. However, let us also think of the tourists—some 4 million of them—who visit Edinburgh every year, many of them using waverly station. I, as someone who has used rail services in many parts of Europe and other countries as well, understand the difficulty of someone arriving in a station and it can be quite confusing and unclear if things are not signposted. Some cities are better than others at providing. Edinburgh is a gateway to other parts of Scotland, and 60 per cent of the visitors who come here travel on to other parts of the country. Taxis are key to making their journey easy and making the country accessible to them. Travellers often arrive, as I have myself in other cities, unsure about their whereabouts. That is why the position of the new rank is regrettable around 500 metres from the station platforms. I would encourage Network Rail to reconsider that and to ensure that effective signage is provided to guide travellers to where they need to go and signage that is easily understandable to those to whom English is not their native language. Finally, I would like to mention the timing of the new proposals. As far as we know, the new rank will open in autumn 2017, and I think that it would be good to have more specific information about this. As my understanding of that is that it will miss the Edinburgh festival season, running in the main as it does throughout August. If the rank is to open after August 2017, it will miss the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh international festival. That would be a crying shame. On that point, I will close, and I would ask the transport minister to see what he can do to try and accelerate the provision of what services can be prior to that date next year. Ash Denham, followed by Alexander Stewart. I extend my thanks also to Miles Briggs for bringing this motion to the chamber and allowing us to explore the issue further. Edinburgh Waverly is an important transport hub for people all across Scotland and beyond. It has 18 platforms in use and sees about 30,000 passengers a day passing through. With so many passengers going through the station each day, it is essential that there is full and easy access to and from the station each day for every passenger. Unfortunately, passengers with disabilities find manoeuvring Waverly station facilities to be a severe challenge at the best of times. Currently, additional help can be requested by phoning for assistance before you arrive at the station, but despite current schemes such as those to accommodate those that require additional assistance, many of those passengers still feel overlooked and often forgotten. Just by way of contextualising that, I will share something about the Parry Olympian, Tanny Gray-Thompson.  Obviously, that is not a good situation that anyone would want to be in. Recounting her experience to the telegraph, she said that, as a disabled person travelling, you always have that element of fear, feeling very uncomfortable, of panic, of just wondering whether or not you are going to get off. I think that it's fair that a lot of disabled people feel like second-class passengers because they don't have the same treatment as everyone else. She says, I don't expect to be swept up into first class and treated better than anyone else, I expect to have the same experience and that is often not the case. No one should feel the need to worry about accessibility. All passengers should have an easy and accessible experience at Waverley station and, indeed, elsewhere in Scotland. Previously, passengers could be picked up and dropped off at platform level, but the closure of the indoor taxi rank in 2014 has only led to increased worry and inaccessibility for those who struggle to travel. Passengers now face a time-consuming route in any direction through the station in and out of lifts in order to reach street level to get a taxi. As we all know, lifts are sometimes subject to breaking down and this can cause extra delays. With the decrease in accessibility due to the taxi rank closure, the unease of disabled passengers has only increased. Originally developed and built in 1854, the station is historically significant. It does obviously have its geographical challenges, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be room for improvements. This week, as we have heard, Network Rail have announced the intention for a new taxi rank to be situated in the New Street car park. The design of the taxi rank is scheduled to be completed in May, but the project completion date, we believe, will be somewhat after that. However, this taxi rank will still require passengers with disabilities to navigate across the station and take lifts to New Street, and, as has already been mentioned, will only be for pick-ups and not for drop-offs. Despite attempts to alleviate the stress of passengers, the new scheme, as far as I can see, does not do much to change the current status and levels of accessibility. Neil Finlay is not here, but he raised several really good suggestions for improvements that could be taken forward. I would be the first to admit, as an able-bodied person, that sometimes we struggle to understand the challenges that are faced by passengers with disabilities. I suggest that the executives at Network Rail might even spend a day on crutches with a couple of heavy suitcases or a day in a wheelchair navigating themselves around the station and getting on and off trains and going up to try and hail a taxi and wait outside in the cold to do so to get some perspective on the issue. I am convinced that a solution could be found to make the station fit for the 21st century, so I would like to call on Network Rail to be more creative to find that solution and make the investment so that all passengers can use the station with ease. The last of the open speeches is Alexander Stewart. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I start by congratulating my colleague Miles Briggs on securing this debate and commend him for the work of raising the profile of the issue surrounding access to Waverly station here in Edinburgh? Waverly is Scotland's largest mainline station and is second only to London Waterloo in the United Kingdom. The annual passenger usage for 2014-15 was over £21 million. It is the very definition of a rail hub, connecting passengers from across Scotland and the United Kingdom. Such a station, which is of so much importance to us here in Edinburgh, should have and must have an opportunity to ensure that commuters and visitors alike have an easy and accessible access to the venue. Accessibility is the essential part of the process. A short-time decision and the ban that was taken back in 2014, I do believe, was the wrong decision to make at that stage. It was really short-sighted and banning taxis from picking up and dropping off passengers within the station. That has caused huge reactions for individuals who have to use it. As I said, it was a knee-jerk reaction and has had huge implications as we move forward. As has been pointed out already in the debate, the withdrawal of the option has affected many elderly, disabled and infirm, but has also had massive consequences for mothers with prams and buggies, and individuals and groups that arrive at the station find it very difficult to access. If you are unfortunate enough to be visually impaired or blind and require the support of a guide dog, that could make a very simple arrival at a station turn into what could currently be a nightmare for the individual. I am not surprised that many people have said that they will not use the facility because they are fearful and anxious about getting to that situation. That is something that we should be tackling for those individuals. It is extremely disappointing that there is now no access for taxi ranks on the same level as the platforms and that passengers now have to make their way up staircases and inaccessible drop-off points to get a taxi. The current arrangements whereby passengers must locate lifts and escalators, and, as we have heard, some of those do not always work from time to time, and that is just not good enough. While I welcome the announcement by Annette Watt-Rail that the new taxi rank in New Street is going to take place, it has taken far too long for us to get to that point. Almost a year and a half ago, the Scottish Parliament Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee indicated that there should be a suitable located access taxi facility at Waverley station. Even if we know the two-year delay, the rank at New Street will only partially support the situation and the problems that have arisen. It is proposed that the new tax rank will only be for the taxis that are picking up passengers, which means that, for the problems that are highlighted, it remains and is solved for the passengers who are returning to Edinburgh. I should therefore like to echo the calls made by others in the debate that the Scottish Government to fulfil its obligation to ensure equal access for transport services in the station. To conclude, the Scottish Government network rail must urgently work together to improve the access for Edinburgh railway station, for passengers, but essentially for those who require extra assistance to ensure that it remains a real rail hub and works for everybody in the community. I call Humza Yousaf to close this debate around seven minutes, please minister. I thank Miles Briggs for bringing this debate to the Scottish Parliament in a very important matter. I want to welcome his constituents and campaigners who are in the public gallery and any other member's constituents who are in the public gallery for what is an absolutely important debate for us to have. I understand from what Miles Briggs was saying that he had recently met the Wavelay station manager, had a walk around the station, a tour and given detailed information on the range of improvements that have been delivered by the ScotRail alliance in partnership with the Edinburgh access panel over the last couple of years. Let me just echo what I think almost every member has said. The situation that we currently have is suboptimal, but it is not appropriate for those with accessibility issues. Miles Briggs was kind enough to quote from our accessibility travel framework, which I was delighted to launch a couple of months ago, which confirmed our commitment to addressing accessibility issues across the different modes of transport. That is an issue that is of paramount importance to the Government, and I believe, from speaking to Network Rail, it is important to them as well. I will try to address, if I may, some of the issues that have been raised, common themes that have come through a number of discussions and contributions that have been made. Ash Denham was absolutely correct that, for those of us who are able-bodied, navigating through Wavelay station, particularly at peak times from one end of the station to the other, even that can be an uncomfortable experience. Ash Denham is right to imagine that, if you are not able-bodied, if you have a number of suitcases, luggage, children or whatever else that you are having to contend with, there is some important context for all of us to understand. There had been some major access improvements since 2012. We know that it has installed escalator lift access to Princess Street and Market Street as part of the £130 million investment upgrade, but I recognise what Alexander Stewart was saying. We know that lifts can break, so that is not a solution in itself, but it is certainly fair to say that there have been improvements that have been made to access. What was missing from the contributions—I do not think that there was any malice in this at all—but what was missing from some of the contributions that were made, which I think is important to highlight, is the reason why the taxi rank was removed. Mr Stewart called it short-sighted or a knee-jerk reaction. I should say that, having spoken to Network Rail, that was because of a directive that came from the UK Government in relation to counter-terror measures. I think that most people would see that that is a fairly reasonable directive to think about what happened at Glasgow airport in terms of vehicles. We know that we travel at Glasgow Queen Street, Glasgow Central station, but there are not many stations that are as busy as Waverley, as they allow taxis to come into the concourse of that station. The reasons why that decision was taken are not because of cosmetic or aesthetic reasons at all, but because of a directive from the UK Government, which literally highlighted Waverley station as one of the stations in the UK that had to make this improvement. Government directives are best not ignored, particularly when they are to do with counter-terrorism. I think that context is important. All that being said, all the members are entirely correct to say that, knowing that directive was coming, what suitable alternatives could have been put in place. I want to congratulate the work that the Edinburgh access panel has done. I know that it has been working closely with the ScotRail Alliance to put their case forward on what better can be done. There have been some improvements that I have spoken about and that members have mentioned in their contributions. I do not know when they had to go, but I would be interested in receiving a copy of the suggestions that his constituents have made if they have not been fed into the ScotRail Alliance. They should be, because I thought that some of them were eminently sensible. However, the close collaboration between the ScotRail Alliance and the Edinburgh access panel has led to the announcement that was made earlier this week, which is creating a taxi rank in the New Street car park. Gordon Lindhurst asked the question about being picked up only and why I was at the case because of insufficient space at the moment. What is the next stage moving forward is that there will be detailed design work, which will look at timescales, which I know that members have mentioned, but will also look at what more can be done to improve accessibility. Once that detailed design work is done, that will be fed back to the Edinburgh access panel for their thoughts, but I will happily give way to Mr Briggs. I have listened to what he has said, and I am grateful. However, one of the key issues that I have been trying to press on is that all the options that have come forward are not really taken into account disabled and blind people going through that station. They are being kept out of the station now. I obviously spoke about handicaps and the role that they have to play. They are soon going to be also excluded from the station. Really, what I want to see is how we do a bespoke opportunity for people who are disabled and blind accessing these train services. I would like to potentially invite the minister to do a visit with me and all the representatives who have an interest in this. We are able to say to Network Rail and to the station management that that is not good enough. We have to go further and the plans that have already been put in place and which we are now having to wait another year for, they look at that again. I think that there is an opportunity to really allow disabled and vulnerable people the opportunity to get into the station far better than they are. I would have no hesitation in meeting with Miles Briggs, his constituents, the access panel or anybody else to discuss the matter. I would stress again that getting direct access right into the station might be difficult because of that director from the UK Government. If there can be a conversation around that, if there can be a way that that can be worked around, considering the space constraints, Neil Findlay said that he would not choose to build that train station again if he had the chance where it is. There are space constraints and restrictions, but I would be more than happy to meet with him. I know that the detail design work that has been taken forward by Network Rail will be in conjunction with the access panel. It will be able to feed in on a regular basis and that goes to the point that Gordon Lindhurst made. I thought very well that can this timescale be expedited in terms of the festivals such an important occasion and event? I will certainly ask Network Rail if that is possible. I think that the design phase will set out the timescales, but he makes a very valid point about that work taking place at a time that is so important to this city. In conclusion, I want to thank Miles Briggs for bringing this debate to Parliament. I thank the Edinburgh access panel, RNIB and the many other stakeholders who have been involved. There is a route forward that will go some way to addressing some of the issues. Clearly, there are more issues that need to be addressed. I will meet with Miles Briggs and anybody else who is interested. As I say, I will ensure that Network Rail continues to be engaged and that we can hopefully find a solution that is optimal for everybody who is able to body and those with disabilities, too. That concludes members' business for today, and I suspend this meeting until 2.30 pm.


Proudly, we hail. New York City, where the American stage begins. Here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time has been made available by this station for your army and your air force to bring you this story. As proudly we hail, Thomas Edison. This is entitled, Man of Genius. A true story about Thomas Edison. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment, but first... Here's a word to the young women high school graduates of 52. Love and loyalty to one's country have never been the exclusive attributes of men. Women too have shown evidence of their devotion and courage. Now, more than ever before, the United States Army and United States Air Force needs young women. Go to your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station. Have a talk with the recruiting sergeant. Find out how you can best serve your country and yourself. Volunteer for service in the WAF, Women's Army Corps, or WAF. Women in the Air Force today. And now your army and your air force present the proudly we hail production, Man of Genius. I'll bet that Thomas Edison had something to do with your life today. How? In at least a dozen ways. For one thing, you wouldn't be getting the clear reception on your radio right this second if it hadn't been for him.  How about a second of thanks for Edison? Our story starts in the year 1856 in the home of Thomas Edison. Many people knew this great American, but no one as well as his mother. Let's imagine that she is telling his story. I'm Thomas Edison's mother. Never could bring myself to call him Tom.  I wanted to name him after that great saint. You remember the one who doubted at first and then received great faith? As it turned out, Thomas, my Thomas, was a lot like that. He had doubts, doubts about himself and doubts about what he could do. But as he grew older, his doubts were replaced by faith. Faith in what could be accomplished for mankind. They say that Thomas is a genius. I guess every mother thinks that about her son. But when Thomas was just a small boy, we'd move from Milan, Ohio to Port Huron, Michigan. There was a teacher who thought anything but that. Thomas told me the story and what the teacher had done. Thomas? Thomas Edison, I've been talking to you for five minutes. What? Oh, excuse me, I must have been dreaming. Dreaming? Your father doesn't send you to school to dream. Now stand up and recite your lesson. Remember how it started. You can't remember. Thomas Edison, you can't remember anything from one minute to the next.  And you can tell your father for me that you're plum-addled. You're not worth keeping in school. You startled me. Perhaps this time something stalled you. I'm Thomas Edison's mother. I'm very pleased to meet you. You won't be when you hear what I've got to say. But if you think I was too harsh with Thomas... You don't deserve to be a teacher. You're given an opportunity that very few people in the world have... to work with a child and help shape his destiny. Today you did everything you possibly could to break a child's spirit. Mrs. Edison, I don't think you have the right to talk to me that way. Thomas sits here and dreams. He doesn't pay the slightest attention to what I'm saying. Have they instructed you to tell children they're adults... that they aren't worth keeping in school? Well, if all the children acted the way Thomas does... looking out the window and dreaming and never knowing his recitation. What kind of a school would I have? I think I know what kind of a school you have right now.  Well, I say he's worth much too much to keep in his school. I'll teach him myself at home. You've practically destroyed the boy's faith in himself. But I'll restore it. Where's Tom? Down in the cellar, as usual, working on some experiments. I don't know. It's a good thing, I suppose, that the boy's interested in chemistry... but it seems to me he spends an awful lot of time down in that shop of his. You don't know how much it means to me to have Thomas interested in learning. Well, it's been months getting that love instilled in him. Well, that's all very well, and I'm proud of both of you. But my dear, this hobby of Tom's is getting to be a pretty expensive thing. But it's worth it, isn't it? Well, maybe so. But my grand business isn't bringing in enough to equip a laboratory... the size Tom seems to want. Let's see if it's worth enough to him to get a job to support his experiments. Well, sure, Tom. What is it? Pop, I want to quit. What's the matter? Howing potatoes too hard on you? I told your mother you'd have to earn your own money for your experiments in nine minutes. But if you don't want to, we'll... Oh, it's not that I don't want to work, Pop. But there isn't any money, real money, in hoeing potatoes. Well, it seems to me what you're making is a good bit for a lad your age. Now, when I was a boy... I know, Pop, but I've heard about something better, and I'd like to do it. I went up and talked to the station master today and asked him if I could sell a Detroit free press on the trains running between here and Detroit. He didn't like the idea very much at first, but I talked to him into it. Can I do it? Son, I don't know what your mother will think about your gallivant and back and forth in those fast trains all day long. Well, you talk to her, Pop. I know she'll let me do it if you tell her you think it's a good thing.  All right, all right, I'll talk to your mother. But I've known her a great deal longer than you have, and there are times when it's pretty hard to convince her. Hi, hello, Mark. I'm just waiting here for Tom. You see him on the train? See him on the train? I certainly did, yes, indeed. He sold me a paper I already had a copy of. Talked me into buying this box of candy for Myra. Oh, you sure have handed that, son of yours? Yes, he's got a real business head, all right. Oh, yes. You know, he's hired three other boys to ride on the other trains and sell everything from fancy vegetables he picks up in Detroit to fresh butter from here in Port Huron. Hi, Pop. Oh, hi, Tom. Oh, we haven't been waiting too long. I had to check up on my sale. Everybody get going, Tom.  Pop, I had the most wonderful day of day I ever had. You sell a lot? Oh, sure, but that isn't what I mean. Oh, what do you mean? I went into the station at Detroit and the telegraph operator showed me how his key works. Now, Tom, Tom, you know your mother has asked you not to talk to everyone who works around those stations. But this was different, Pop. Oh, boy, I can't wait till tomorrow. He said if I didn't bother him too much, I could watch him send messages tomorrow. I could just operate that key for one day. That's all I'd ever ask for. Stop, Detroit. So long, Mr. Wilson. Oh, aren't you going back on the run with us, Tom? Nope. I'm going to watch the messages being telegraphed. I'll see you on the four o'clock run. All right, Tom. I'll watch your boxes. Thanks. Here I am again. Now, look, Sonny, I've got more to do today than a cook at thrashing time. And on top of everything else, my wife just brought my little boy down here for me to watch. Maybe I could help you do something. Well, now I tell you, if you'll go out on the platform and see what my son's up to, that'll help a lot. Then later, maybe I can show you how this key works. Oh, boy, sure. Right away. He's just a little tyke, only three years old, so keep an eye on him. I will, sir. Come back here. Get off the track! Are you all right? Little fella, how's he? He's all right. We both are, I guess.   Bobby! Oh, Bobby! I don't know how to thank you.  You owe a lot to young Tom here. I don't want anything for you. He's lucky I was here. I'm not a rich man, Tom, but I do have something you want. You're welcome to it. I'm going to make you the best telegraph operator in the Midwest. Oh, boy, do you mean it? I never meant anything more in my life. You just come in here every day for an hour or so and I'll teach you everything I know about the key. Galway! I guess I'm just about the luckiest kid in Michigan. After that, he had the bug. He'd had his hands on one of those telegraph things and there wasn't any use telling him anything different. He made a full set of instruments for himself in a Detroit machine shop before he'd finished with a course from the operator in Detroit. At 15, he was a full-fledged telegraph operator. And then that tragic time in the life of every mother when her son decides he has to leave home. He went wandering around the whole blessed Midwest getting experience so he could be a first-class operator. He wrote home faithfully and told us about some of the experiences he had. Dear Ma and Pa, today was pretty awful. I was sitting around the station here in Memphis and it wasn't a thing to do. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe, maybe it would work. Let me see now. If I get the next station to send me a message, now if you'll just send that back in one minute, it got to work. Got to put this extra piece of wire in here and time it just right. Just about time. One, two seconds, three. There he goes. Now to send my message back, right over the same wire at the same time.  Hmm? Oh, Mr. Michaels, I didn't hear you come in. I guess you didn't. It's more your town pulary, huh? Mr. Michaels, I think it works. What works? What are you talking about? The wire. I've just sent two messages over the same wire. Two messages? I never heard such rot. You're busy playing here with a train doing it in four minutes. Hey, we don't want dreamers like you around here. Now get out! You can send two messages on one wire. Now, I'm going to prove it can be done if I get fired from every job in the country trying. And we began to think maybe he would get fired from every job. That time, I can't remember what city that was. They gave him a room above the station. But Thomas didn't sleep in it very much, apparently. He set up a laboratory right away and kept trying experiments. Every minute he was off duty that he could keep awake. He spilled some acid one day and it leaked through the ceiling. Scared the station master half to death. I can't say I blamed him. But he didn't have to say the things he did to Thomas. Thomas came home suddenly one day. We hadn't seen him for almost a year. He was bigger and quieter somehow. All his traveling and experience seemed to make him more mature than the other boys his age. It was after supper that first night he was home that we were sitting in the parlor. Just sitting without talking very much. And then Thomas looked up. Mom, I'm going away again. Oh, Thomas, you just got home. Can't you stay put for a while? Where do you want to go after this time, Tom? I want to go east. New York probably or Boston. What can you do there that you can't do right here in Port Huron? Well, the Western Union telegraph company is in Boston for one thing. I believe that if I went to them with my ideas and some of my inventions, they'd listen to me. Can't you write them a letter, Tom? Well, that's a good idea. Then they could tell you if it's worth your while to go all that distance. No, Mom, I've got to go and show them. It sounds like dreaming when I put it all on paper. But I've got models to show them and drawings and I can build other things in their laboratories if they'll let me. I guess I just wasn't meant to stay put. Thomas, are you asleep? No, Mom. Come on in. I couldn't sleep either, thinking about you going away. No, don't carry on about it, Mom. Things aren't as far away anymore with trains and all running all the time. Oh, I've resigned myself to you going, Thomas. But I've been thinking, lying there in the dark tonight. I've been thinking that I don't really know what you're doing, Thomas. Mainly because I don't understand it. I could teach you history and English and things like that. But you figured out chemistry and physics for yourself, remember? Sure. I remember you couldn't seem to make head or tail of it. Well, Thomas, I'm still ahead of you on some things. And that's what I wanted to say tonight. I've seen so many very poor people before we ever came out here. Saw them in the cities and on the farms. People who never seem to have a chance in life. I don't know if these inventions of yours are good, but I hope that they'll not be for the rich and for the privileged. Make something that everyone will profit from, Thomas. Make that a test of what you build. If you do that, we'll never really be separated. If you'll do that, it'll be worth all the loneliness I feel. I don't know if my inventions are any good either, Mom, but if they are, they'll help everybody. That, I promise you. You are listening to the proudly we hail production of Man of Genius. We'll return to our story in just a moment. Have you noticed the new trim, wack uniform worn by the young women who are serving in the Women's Army Corps? This new uniform not only stamps the wearer as being smartly dressed, it also indicates that she is doing her part to keep America strong. If you are a young woman between 18 and 34 and can qualify, you are urged to do your part in making unity, strength, freedom a reality. Go to your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station and enlist in the Women's Army Corps today. You are listening to Proudly We Hail. Now we present the second act of Man of Genius. And so Thomas went to Boston. Years passed. In the rush of news on the eastern seaboard, his idea that a wire might carry more than one message at a time fell on fertile ground. The double transmitter was in action by the spring of 1868. Then Thomas had another idea and he went to New York to tell some men in Wall Street about it. Thomas must have felt like a duck out of water with all those great men of finance gathered around his schedule. I don't know. Now Edison, just how will this thing help us? Well, as I see it, this machine could be manufactured at a fairly low cost. You could each have one in your office. It's the same principle as the telegraph. An operator would sit down by the board in Wall Street and as soon as stocks were sold or bought would transmit the price fluctuations out to the owners of the machines. That way, you'd know instantly what the stocks you're interested in are doing. I think it might be... Edison, I think you've got a good thing here. Yes, it would certainly mean a great saving for me in the long run. I'd say go ahead and let's get started manufacturing these things. Why, there isn't a broker in the country who wouldn't have to buy one immediately. We'll buy this, Edison. Looks to me as if you're not a crackpot inventor after all. Get on in, Edison. I'm delighted to see you again. I wasn't sure you'd remember me. You made me a lot of money with that ticket-tape machine of yours. What's on your mind now? I'm conducting an experiment, a brand new idea. Tomorrow, out in my laboratory in New Jersey. Frankly, I'll need money for it if it works. I'd like to have you out there for the trial. That's a funny-looking object, just a sort of cylinder covered with tinfoil. What does the thing do? The thing must talk. I'll bet you a hundred dollars it won't. Maybe you are a crackpot after all. I don't even have two dollars, but I'll bet you that barrel of apples in my office against your hundred. You're on. Turn the crank and make it talk. Do it again. All right. I'll send you a check in the morning, Edison, but I want to make the check a lot bigger. I want a piece of that... A phonograph is what I call it.  What's the matter with you? You look as if you lost your last friend. Oh, it's crazy of me, but... Well, I'm a little scared. Scared? What of? It worked, didn't it? That's just it. It worked the first time. I've always been afraid of things that worked the first time. The phonograph was born too easily. Things didn't always come easily for Thomas. Only because he dreamed years, decades, generations ahead of himself. He'd write us about his dreams. A man in Europe has invented the machine by which he takes an instantaneous photograph. Let us suppose that he photographs Henry Ward Beecher every second and that we take down his sermon on the tin foil matrix. The pictures and gestures of the orator as well as his voice could be exactly reproduced and the eyes and ears of the audience charmed by the voice and manner of the speaker. Why, old dramas and operas can be produced in private parlors. And, Ma, I'll see that they're in the parlors of the poor too. In the parlors of the poor, that might very well have been the motto Thomas lived by. Particularly when he went through the years of torment and experimentation over the incandescent lamp. Frankly, I never understood but half of what he was talking about when he wrote us about his new invention. Miss Edison tried to explain it to me, but my head just used to swim with all the terms and processes and such. It was in most of the papers though. Listen to this if you want to hear about a lot of foolishness. Thomas Alba Edison inventor announced today that his New Jersey laboratory has stopped all of the manufacturing to engage in research on a new incandescent lamp. Mr. Edison's fame for the invention of the ticket-tape machine of the electric phonograph said that electricity can be harnessed to light and heat homes. Edison added that the lamps could be processed inexpensively enough so that they would be within the reach of any workman. Wouldn't you think a grown man could better spend his time in honest day's work than in trying to fool the people? I've heard it said that I'm simply looking for publicity. That's true. I guess maybe I should have called in some of the men from the newspapers for today's experiment. You think it'll work, Tom? I don't know. We've tried just about everything, Cliff, to get just the right material for the filament. The materials in this lamp make it cheap enough, just glass and copper and a piece of cotton thread. When I think of the months we spent trying to figure out how to pump the air from a glass globe. It'll be worth all our work and loss of sleep if it works. It's lighted up. Measure the resistance. 275 ohms. This is all the power we dare hope for. Well, it's more than I thought we'd get. Now, let's see if the lamp will last. Been four hours, Tom. Yes. Well, that isn't long enough to make it practical. It'll have to burn more than that. Tom, you've got to get some sleep. Been here all night and half the morning. What about yourself, Cliff? That's not fool ourselves. We both know that we couldn't leave this lamp. We've got to know how long it'll burn. Flickering, Tom. It's going out. There it goes. It's all over. Well, 45 hours, just a few minutes more. It's great. Great, Tom. Great. Yes, but not enough. It has to burn at least 100 hours, or only the very rich will be able to afford them. Let's go to work. To help man visualize the meaning of his revolution and illumination, Thomas Alva Edison set up 400 lights in the streets and houses around his laboratory last night, all connected to underground conductors run into the dynamos in one of the shop buildings. The crowd, which gathered for the unusual greeting of the New Year, 1879, came in special trains from New York to see for themselves. The visitors were dazzled by the brilliance of the lights and says it'll be available to the public at reasonable cost. He predicts they will be in thousands of holes before the next New Year. You see, Marcy, just like I said, when I first read about this man Edison, he's a fellow to watch, I said. Well, I was right. Yes, they all believed in him after that. They followed his next inventions and next ideas in the newspapers and they talked about him in reverent tones on the street corners and his name became a household word. Henry Ford put it this way. The age of industry should be called the age of Edison. Modern industry would be impossible were it not for the mobility of our artificial power and the facility of our communication and transportation due to Edison. Tom gave America a new declaration of independence, not in words, but in the nature of a kit of tools by the use of which each and every person among us has gained a larger measure of economic liberty and had ever previously been thought possible. Tom has done more toward abolishing poverty than all the reformers and statesmen since the beginning of the world. He gave man the means to help himself. Perhaps greater than all else was his example in linking science with our everyday life and demonstrating that through patient unremitting testing and trying any problem may eventually be solved. Maybe Thomas Edison put it best himself simply and in words that any man could understand. Nothing is impossible. We merely don't know yet how to do some things but nothing is impossible. Here is a brief word to the young women who will graduate from high school this year. Why not get an early start with a job that gives you the feeling of being of real service to your country? You'll enjoy that feeling in the Modern Women's Army Corps. Besides, you'll be in a job that will be a little different every day and you'll be getting the finest technical training in the world. So don't let opportunity pass you by. Visit your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station today. And a transcribed in cooperation with this station by the United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting service. This program featured a cast of outstanding players. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Have.


We're continuing on in this incredible book of John series. My favorite gospel, I know maybe you're not supposed to have favorite Bible books, but I do. And it's the gospel of John because I have encountered and met the risen Lord Jesus through these stories over and over again. And it's an honor to be continuing on this series. We're gonna jump in at John three, which is the story of Jesus and Nicodemus. And today we're gonna talk about doubts and belief. What I love about these stories we're about to dive into is Jesus is not afraid or intimidated by doubt, by questions that are brought to him. In fact, quite the opposite. He is tenderhearted and he ministers to deep places of pain, questioning and doubts. And I believe this morning, that same Jesus wants to minister to our hearts and our places of doubt and pain. So let's jump in. We're gonna read a long passage of scripture. Hopefully that's exciting to you. I'm gonna have you participate though, because really what we're talking about today and what's happening in these stories in the gospel of John is, John is juxtaposing two people that respond to Jesus differently. One in faith and one in doubt. But the way John does it is so brilliant.  It doesn't look like that. It's disguised in this phrase I know. And there's a difference between knowing something and being a know-it-all. And the know-it-all thinks that it's discovered and learned everything. And it's a mask oftentimes for doubt and pain. And it's the opposite of belief. And that's what the story in John 3 and then later in 11 will look like. So every time I read the word know or knew, I want you to shout it out as loud as you can. And when you hear and see the word believe, I want you to shout that out as well. So we're gonna start in John 2.23, just two verses before John 3, because these chapters were added later on, these chapter numbers were added later on. This is part of one story that we're about to read. So John 2.23 says, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many in his name, when they saw the signs that he was doing, but Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them for he all people and found, and you're doing great by the way, and needed no one to bear witness about the man for he himself, what was in man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is truly with him. Jesus answered him truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered truly, truly, I say, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you be born again, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel yet and you don't understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we and bear witness to what we have seen but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  Give yourself a round of applause. You guys did great following along. This story starts with Jesus doing miracles and signs and wonders and then it says, but Jesus did not entrust himself to man because he knew what was in the heart of man and the next few stories we're about to see in John, we're about to see it here with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the Gentile official, the man of the pool of Bethesda is that Jesus does not relate in the terms of position but to the individual in their heart and what I love about this situation is Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus and he says, you know, we meaning he's joining himself with the Pharisees. He's saying we the Pharisees, a member of the Sanhedrin, he's saying we know that you have come from God and he's coming at night because he's afraid he doesn't quite believe yet and in this interaction Jesus, you know, does a terrible capitalizing on the influence opportunity in front of him. You know, if Jesus really wanted to capitalize on influence, he could have said, hey, we got a leader of Israel, a teacher. This is a great chance. Let's get some Instagram reels. Let's get on the conference circuit. Let's start talking about how to really make an impact because you know that I came from God but Jesus sees through the veneer in Nicodemus and he cuts and ministers right to the heart. Jesus cares about the person in front of him, not the position. He doesn't see a Pharisee first. He doesn't see a teacher or leader first. He sees a son and someone who's wrestling with doubt and he chooses to minister to him rather than use him. Jesus is still the same today. He's looking to minister to you before he's looking to use you for his purposes. So who is this man that he's caring for in John three? Well, first, again, we see him come at night and we see in this nighttime exercise he is bringing his doubt to Jesus but he's not quite yet ready to be seen. And he brings this phrase. He says, Jesus, we know that you came from God because these signs and wonders and what Jesus is about to expose, which he says straight up. It's the difference between knowing and believing. So it's a world of difference. You know, kids, when they're young, we all did too, like to believe they know everything. I mean, I was asking Aliyah the other day she was saying something and I was like, Aliyah, do you think you know more than mom and dad? And without pausing, she goes, oh, absolutely. I mean, just like 100% sure. Like she knows way more about, you know, the oceans and biology. Therefore, she just knows way more about life because experience doesn't mean anything as long as I kind of know and understand information. And Oxford Dictionary defines knowing as to be aware through observation, inquiry or information. The Greek word I do, which is what's translated no in this passage is to see with physical eyes or to observe, to take in knowledge and information. And the Oxford word for believe means to accept something is true. Or pistuo, which is the Greek word, which means to have faith in or to trust completely. Do you see the difference between observing and trusting completely? See, Nicodemus is saying he knows something through observation and Jesus cuts through that veneer and says, I'm asking you to believe. So how does Jesus address somebody who knows but doesn't yet believe? We're gonna look at three things real briefly. The first is he conceives divine revelation. See, Nicodemus was okay with Jesus giving a message from God, but he wasn't okay with Jesus being the message. He was okay with Jesus coming from God, but not being God. And Jesus doesn't back down from his divinity. In fact, he immediately launches in. And you notice three times he used this phrase, truly, truly. And that was more than a speaker wouldn't just say that to emphasize something. What he was saying by truly, truly was saying he has first hand information, meaning he wasn't giving you information, he was the information. Remember what John 1 said in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And it says Jesus taught as one with authority and that astounded them. That authority doesn't mean he had like a suit and he walked, he strutted and he had a badge and he talked really loud. And that's what authority meant. No, it meant he had first hand information and knowledge. When he spoke on behalf of God, he spoke as God. And Jesus did not shy away from his divinity and man in this day and age, it's almost like we want, we want to show the world that Jesus is human but we're afraid of the offense of Jesus being God. We cannot back down. Jesus did not back down. Number two, he confounds the wisdom of men. And he says this phrase, you must be born again. See, Jesus cuts to the heart by using language and metaphor that Nicodemus would be completely unfamiliar with. Another way to say it, he offends Nicodemus' mind to reveals his heart. And this is extraordinary to me because Nicodemus would have had the entire Torah memorized. He would have had the scriptures in its entirety completely memorized. And Jesus doesn't say, okay, Nicodemus, let me speak to you on your terms. Let me use the information and knowledge that you know to explain myself as God. But he actually purposefully confuses him. He purposefully offends what Nicodemus knows to reveal his heart. It's because Jesus knew beneath Nicodemus' religious veneer was a son who needed to be born again. He had to offend what Nicodemus knew so that he could believe. And friends, I know this to be so true in my walk with God. That God is not interested in just meeting me at the level of how I know and understand him. But he seems to absolutely love to confound my wisdom when I think I got him figured out. Remember, we think this proverb is so nice. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. You know, when we lean on our understanding, God has a real good way of just kicking that leg out from under us and letting us understand because we cannot fully grasp him. And if we are limited to what we know or what we observe, we will never fully know God. So what did Nicodemus knew would be the basis of his doubt? Well, Nicodemus came, he came with a sign-based faith which looks like genuine faith, right? Jesus, we know you came from God because we've seen you do signs and wonders. But in reality, it's not enough to observe God's faithfulness and goodness through other people. We see it in the gospels where individuals are wowed by the signs and wonders, but then when Jesus offends the mind and says something like, eat my flesh, drink my blood, because their faith was based in signs and wonders and not in personal revelation and encounter, they fall. And what does Peter say after everyone else leaves? He says, where else can we go? You have the words of life. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus says, well done, Simon. They all left because of a sign-based faith, but you had personal revelation about who the man Jesus Christ was. And so Nicodemus, using this language of born again, which would have been foreign and new to him. See, Nicodemus was born into three things that would have gave him confidence in his salvation. The first was he was part of God's covenant people, which would be graced through election. Nicodemus would have thought he had no need to be born again because he was already born once and he won the lottery. He was born into God's covenant people. This is likened to the attitude that many have when you say, of course I'm a Christian. I was born into a Christian home. I went to a Christian school. I went to a church since I was young. Because of the family I was born into, I must be a Christian and Jesus confronts this. The second is Nicodemus was born into prestige, which is grace through earning. Because I have this amazing pedigree because I've accomplished all of these things for God. Surely I'm born again. Surely I'm, quote, saved. And this is confronted so directly by Jesus in Matthew 7. When people approach with a very impressive ministry pedigree, raising the dead, healing the sick, leading other people to Jesus. And Jesus says, depart from me, for I never knew you. Your best works, the best things that you accomplish apart from his righteousness mean nothing. Paul, who had probably the greatest pedigree in ministry history, one that none, you and I could never reach. And Paul calls it filthy rags. In another scripture he uses a word for excrement, dung. It is useless if it is not surrendered to and received the righteousness of Christ in our salvation. Number three was Nicodemus was born into the law, which is the grace through ethics. Well, I'm basically a good person. I haven't killed anybody, you know. I don't do all these horrible things. Surely I must be saved because I'm such a good person. So he has grace through election, earning and ethics. These are the three ways we're attempted to believe. Well, we're just saved because of these things. And Jesus in this most pivotal passage says, toss all of those things out. You have to be born again. See, Nicodemus isn't saved by his own doing, but Jesus' own dying. It had nothing to do with Nicodemus could do. And see the world is looking for reformation. Nicodemus was looking for reformation, but the Father is looking for regeneration. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore anyone, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away, behold the new things have come. Titus 3, 5 says he saved us not on the basis of deed, which we have done, but according to his mercy by the washing and regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. And 1 Peter 1, 3 says, blessed be the God of our Father, Lord Jesus Christ. So according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God did not come to make bad people good, but dead people alive. And what happens at the new birth is not getting a new religion or a new idea, but it's a completely new life. He says, you must be born again. You must, meaning there's only one way. You have to be born, which means there's a Father involved and there's a moment of conversion where you are birthed into the world. And you have to be born again or a new. You need to be made new. And trust me, the world thinks they're looking for reformation, but what they need is regeneration. What they need is to be purchased by the blood of Jesus. What they need is for their good, their bad, everything they are, everything we are laid before the righteousness of Jesus to be born again, to be joined with Christ, to be his righteousness and under his blood and under his covenant. Jesus gives Nicodemus a presupposition to this new birth. He says, you must believe. You must believe. And this is the third thing that Jesus does is he confronts Nicodemus's doubts. And he asks them to believe. His biblical word for doubt, there's a few of them, but the one that's most commonly used, there's really no way to say it in the English. It means to be two standing or to be standing in two locations, to waiver, to not fully commit to one standing. Think of Peter, who stood on the water at first and made a commitment to follow Jesus, but then his other foot stood on the fear and the doubt of the moment. And so he fell into the waves. But what we see in this passage with Nicodemus and what we see in a moment in this passage with Mary and Martha is that there's two kinds of doubt that we see in scripture. And I'm gonna, for the sake of this moment, I'm gonna call one, I know doubt and one, believing doubt. And I know doubt, ask questions in order to challenge God, supposing that they are on the same level as God, but believing doubt, ask questions to know God. I know doubt brings questions to everybody but Jesus. I just wanna learn. So I'm asking questions to everybody except for Jesus himself, but believing doubt brings them right to Jesus. I know doubt questions God's character because they don't understand him, but believing doubt trusts God's character because he's beyond understanding. Believing doubt surrenders the need to know why before the person of Jesus. James 1.5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously without reproach. And it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith without doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that's tossed and driven by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man. He's unstable in all of his ways. What we see about doubts and the way that Jesus ministers to us in them, it's okay to have them. It's not okay to hold them. It's okay to have them, but it's not okay to hold them. See, here's what Nicodemus has going for him. He's being pulled into this belief, but he still has doubts, but you know what? He goes to Jesus with those doubts. It's not having the absence of doubt. It's not allowing the doubt to create absence. Nicodemus said, I know, but Jesus says, yeah, but you don't believe. And this is the tricky thing with doubt. It's almost always conceived in the head because of veiled pain in the heart. It's hidden in intellectualism and intellectual thought, but its root is typically not there, but in the heart. There's a former Christian artist, worship leader that I used to really love and listen to, and he's fallen off the deep end. I mean, he's like Buddhist, a new age, I mean, just as out there, and he has podcasts, and the podcasts are very heady and intellectual, and he's talking about all these arguments for why the Bible isn't real, why Jesus isn't the Son of God.  And it's so interesting to me because he talks about his now faith and deconstruction, living all in the mind, but the reality was that was just a mask for undoubt with pain and offense in the heart. And that's what we see, Jesus is in relentless pursuit over. So turn your Bibles to John 11. This is where we're gonna camp out for the rest of the message. This is a very precious passage to me, and I hope this morning as we see Jesus in it, we are also delivered from the veneer of doubt that can exist in our heart. John 11, verse one, now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill, so the sister sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill, but when Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer to the place where he was and then skipped down to verse 14. Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I was not there so that you may believe. This is a very confusing passage to me because in it you see Mary, Martha, Lazarus. These are Jesus's quote unquote best friends. When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he didn't stay at the nicest hotel. He went two miles down the road to Bethany and he stayed with his friends. These are people that he loved. And so when Lazarus became sick, Mary and Martha quickly sent a messenger to go and find Jesus because they knew he loved him. They knew he was a healer. They believed in him and therefore, they knew Jesus would come. And can you imagine the hope and the joy that they must have felt in their heart when this messenger came back and said, guess what? Not only is Jesus coming, but he gave us a promise and he said, this illness will not end in death.  Have you been in that place of confusion where there's fear and doubt and worry and in cuts a promise of God? There is no joy and peace that has felt like that. I just imagine them rejoicing and saying, okay Lazarus, don't worry, Jesus, he's on the way and he promised. He promised the sickness will not end in death. But then Lazarus continued to take a turn for the worse and Jesus stayed longer where he was at. He went out of his way to stay away from Lazarus. And Mary and Martha had to watch their brother get worse and worse and worse and worse. And in their hearts, they're not understanding. Why is Jesus not here? Why is Jesus not coming? He promised us this illness would not end in death. And then the moment of absolute doubt of confusion and Lazarus breathes his last, Lazarus is dead. And it appears for all intents and purposes to Mary and Martha that Jesus has lied and has not come through.  I know I have, I'm gonna open up and share some aspects about my life this morning that I kinda don't want you to be honest. But I really feel in my heart that Jesus wants to deal with undoubt, pain and doubt in our hearts. And many of you guys know that we have two kids, Aliyah and Jordan. Aliyah is our 10 year old who was adopted from birth and Jordan our six year old, our only biological kid. And he was born kind of out of a miracle. My wife and I have had a journey of infertility and for 10 years we had infertility issues and had pretty much all but given up on having any biological kids. And I had this encounter with the Lord in 2015 and I heard what I would call the internal audible voice of God where I heard it so clearly it was as if someone spoke it to me. And he said, Caleb, 2016 will be the year of new life and as a sign I keep my promises, you will bear a son and he will be Emmanuel, God is with you. And I don't know if you've been in that place where you've had hope and you've had disappointment but then you've settled in that place and then you're asked to hope again. And that's what we did in 2016 was a crazy year, halfway through the year, we weren't pregnant yet, I got viral meningitis, I almost died, I'm sitting there in the hospital saying, you said this is the year of new life, you have a really strange way of showing me what new life means. This looks like new death, not old new life. And at day 40 of that I got dramatically healed in another encounter with the Lord. No effects of meningitis and the next month when my wife and I had an appointment with a new fertility doctor in Denver, I hear a cry out of the bathroom in the morning and Rachel's holding a pregnancy test that says positive. And I remember we had a gender reveal party and everyone hated me at this party because I was like, I don't know why you guys are here, we already know it's a boy, God said it was gonna be a son and so everyone was like, I hope it's a girl, just so you're wrong. And soon enough the balloon pops and the blue confetti pops out and Aliyah bursts into tears because she wanted a sister so bad. And then in May of 2017, Jordan Emanuel was born to us and I just remember at the 12 month mark, the 18 month mark, there's just something about seeing the promise of God before your eyes that was just so incredible to see this statement that the Lord made and the follow through and Jordan was walking early and he was talking early and we were just marveling at the goodness of God and then right at the 18 month to 24 month mark, something started to happen where Jordan started talking less and he started listening to us less and he kind of started going into his own world and we didn't know what was happening. We thought maybe he was just stubborn like his mom but I'm just kidding, stubborn like me. She's imported, she can't defend herself, sorry babe. And I remember just that fear creeping into my heart that something was wrong but in my mind, this was a son of promise, surely there wasn't anything that was wrong and a few months later passed by and at the recommendation of our pediatrician, we took him to a specialist where he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 10 out of 10 on the spectrum on which they measured autism or the strongest they could detect within him and my world was devastated and my heart was devastated when I had to hear about all of the conditions and the difficulties and the challenges in life that he would face as I was inundated with the questions, would he ever talk again? Just little stuff as a father, would I ever hear the words, I love you? Would he ever be able to be married? Would he ever be able to live on his own and had to send him away at two years old to full-time therapy, which we're so grateful for, they've done such an incredible job but the difficulty of being a parent and sending your two year old away when they should be at home, playing and enjoying themselves to essentially work a full-time job just to build the building blocks of communication in that time and just through the weight of figuring out doctors and appointments and changing our life around. I mean, I was traveling multiple times a month for ministry and we had to change that. I mean, our home, we used to open it all the time for discipleship meetings and suddenly we had to change all these aspects of our life and the weight of it. I had such a deep grief in my heart that after a month or two, I just started experiencing a pretty severe depression where I didn't want to get up in the morning, where doing things like responding to texts were insurmountably difficult and painful and here I was in this moment, I was saying, Lord, this can't be happening. This is the time where I have to be the strongest for my family. I have to be the strongest for Jordan and have my legs cut out from underneath me. And I remember going to the Lord, going before Jesus and feeling that pain of Jesus, you were four days too late. I don't understand, you made a promise and it feels to me that you haven't followed through and you're not following through and this deep wrestle doubts that I didn't even know I had about what I personally believed about the goodness and kindness of God and of course I wasn't doubting the validity of the scriptures or my Christian faith but real doubts about how He loved me and how I believed He loved me rose in my heart and this next passage that I'm going to read has been where Jesus has personally met me, where He's delivered me, where He's brought so much healing and restoration to my heart but there was a process that Mary and Martha went through that I had to go through that we have to go through to get there and so John 11, if you're still there in chapter 20, you have to remember Lazarus is dead and Mary and Martha are just confused and so we see the responses. We see that I know doubt and we see the believing doubt on display. In verse 20 it says so when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died but even now, Lord, I know there's that word that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on that last day.  Do you believe this? And she said, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ who's coming into the world. Now on the surface, this looks like faith but what Mary does is, Martha goes toe to toe with Jesus.  So she comes and presses in with this question and then she backs off it and Jesus goes, wait a second, Mary, you heard me promise that your brother will rise again. Do you believe this? And instead of wrestling with the doubt of Jesus, I don't know how to tell you this but I don't because Lazarus is dead. She goes, oh, Lord, I know on the last day he'll rise again. She gives a Christiane's answer. The facade of faith with doubt in the heart and Jesus again is pursuing her belief and says, no, no, no, Martha, don't give me that Christiane's answer.  Do you believe? And she goes, yes, Lord, I believe and you can do all things and gives the Christiane's answer and scurries away. And Jesus is unmoved and Lazarus stays in the grave. And this Martha approaches what so many of us do what I have done so many times where I might wanna vent my frustrations with a moment with the Lord but I don't wanna stay in the wrestle because I can't deal with the pain of releasing my doubt to Jesus and maybe I was wrong and have to face that pain and experience it.  Now go to verse 32. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping in the Jews who had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved in his spirit and he was greatly troubled and he said, where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see in the shortest yet one of the most powerful verses in all of scripture, Jesus wept. Mary and Martha brought the same phrase but from a different position. Martha was the I know girl. She has so many verses in scripture. Did you know this is the only recorded sentence from Mary in all of scripture? The only one. And Martha hid behind her religion and Mary let Jesus see her tears. Martha hid behind her strength but Mary let Jesus see her worship. Mary did two things that we have to do with our doubt and our pain. Number one, she exposed her doubts to the light of day. Do you remember what Nicodemus did? He came at night. He didn't want anyone else to see. You know what Mary did? In the moment where she was the most undignified where she was in pain and doubt and hurt she waited for Jesus to call and then instead of going toe to toe with Jesus and keeping her composure and hiding the doubt she to some humiliated the Son of God. She said, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died and she collapses at his feet. She lets her pain and tears be seen. And beloved, let me tell you he cannot heal what you conceal. Your hidden pain and doubts will stay your hidden pain and doubts unless you let them out in the open. And many of you I believe are here today and there's been pain from disappointment. Maybe it's a divorce. Maybe it's a miscarriage. Maybe it's a death. Maybe it's losing a job. Maybe it's a bad breakup.  Bless the Lord. God's good all the time. But inside you need to do what Mary did and you need to expose that pain to the light of day to your family, to your friends, to christian counselors, to those who can help bring healing and the second thing that she does so extraordinary is she puts herself at Jesus' feet with no plan B. Martha gave Jesus an out. Mary gave Jesus no out. She made a scene. She threw herself at his feet.  I don't understand. You made a promise and you didn't come through and I have confusion and doubt but I know who you are and I know you alone have the words of life and I know that I know that your words are true and so I don't understand but I'm planning myself right here and I'm not going anywhere. I'm at your feet and refusing to take your pain and to numb it and alcohol and drugs and whatever else or maybe it's just being withdrawn by saying Jesus, I don't know why. I don't know why. I don't know why you're not healing me. I don't know why you're not coming through in this way but I refuse to go anywhere else. I have no plan B and what we see next is to me one of the most extraordinary pictures in all of the scriptures. You know the phrase that he groaned within himself? It means that from his bowels he travailed and he cried out. Jesus did not do a little sniffle. Wiped the tear away. You ever weep so hard that you cried out? I remember I've been in that place. I wept so hard and I cried so hard that I try heaved. The tears that came out of Mary's eyes and soaked in Jesus's feet then came out the Son of Man and Mary got to see Jesus do something for her that we get to see through the cross but he hadn't gone there yet and Mary literally saw Jesus wear her grief. Do you remember what Isaiah 53 says about Jesus? Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow and Jesus didn't skip to the resurrection. He didn't say, yeah, yeah, Mary, I get it. Quit your crying. I'll take care of this. But Jesus literally wore and bore and grieved to a deeper degree than Jesus himself grieved. And what Mary encountered in that place was a new aspect to the heart of God that nobody else had ever seen before. And I believe that was her healing and deliverance. It wasn't even the confirmation of the resurrection because she got to taste the glory and the beauty of the cross before anybody else. You know what Jesus said to Nicodemus? Do you remember verse 3, 14? Just like Moses lifted up the serpent so the Son of Man must be lifted up. What was that story? Well, in Numbers 21, the serpents had been released because Israel's rebellion and the people of God were dying because of the venom. And they held up more than just a rod but they fashioned a snake onto the rod and whoever saw this rod was healed. Now the rod is a picture of the cross. If you look to the cross, be healed. But there was more than just the rod, the serpent was on the rod. It wasn't enough for Israel to just see the cross in a general sense.  And for us to find our healing in our doubts and in our pain, it's not about getting our questions asked. It's looking at the Son of Man who didn't shoo us away when we had questions. It didn't push us away but literally bore our grief and our pain and experienced it to a deeper degree than we ever did so that we could be healed. But we have to see it on Him on the cross and not look away. It's kind of easy to look at the general sense Jesus who's dying for all the world's sin. But do you see your sin on the face of Jesus on the cross? Your pain and confusion where you don't understand where you feel that the Father turned His back on you, Jesus, the only man who ever had the Father turn His back on him, bore the pain of that rejection so that you can be healed so he can release healing to your heart. I wanna invite you to stand this morning. I know this is a heavy truth. What I've discovered over this past four years is this beautiful scripture that I wanna read to you. First Corinthians eight, one through three. Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that all have knowledge but knowledge puffs up, love edifies.  But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. Mary came in wanting her questions answered and she left not just knowing God but she was known by him. There is something deeper than getting the why of why your pain and suffering in circumstances happened. And it's letting yourself be seen at His feet so that you are then known by God. It's your shallow religion He wants to deliver you from. He delivered Jacob from it. When Jacob went into the wrestle wanting a blessing and he came out saying, what is your name? Where Job went in with a contract saying, God, you owe me right, you owe me blessing because I've been righteous.  And what Paul says, I wanna know you in the fellowship of your sufferings and the power of your resurrection. There is a doorway into knowing who God is and God knowing you that you can only walk through through pain and suffering. But there is no glory and there is no encounter with Jesus if that pain is hidden. And what we see this morning and I wanna invite the prayer team to come forward. I'm gonna pray and then dismiss but I really believe this morning that many of you have areas of veiled pain and doubt in your hearts. And this morning, Jesus cannot heal what you conceal.  I just wanna say this is the moment, this is the time. Maybe it's time to finally make that counseling appointment to talk to your spouse, to talk to your friend, to expose that thing you've been wrestling with that you're afraid to let see. And maybe this is your moment to come to Jesus and saying Lord, I've been like Martha and I've hidden in a religious veneer but now I wanna come to you for real and have you actually bear and pay for my pain and doubts. And what's beautiful is that Nicodemus came with this shallow knowing at first but we see that Nicodemus was one of the few that actually embalmed Jesus after he died. Do you know the other person other than Mary that had her fragrance on Jesus in the tomb was Nicodemus? Well, she was delivered because he saw what Jesus was talking about on the cross. And I challenge you to taste and see that he is good this morning. You're saying I've been struggling with this for so long and he hasn't healed me yet. Is it that he's not powerful enough or is it that you've used your strength to conceal that from him? So I'm gonna pray for us and release and I wanna encourage you if that's you to come forward this morning. There's healing and hope at the cross.  You gotta bring it to him. You gotta bring it into the light. So Jesus this morning we come before you and we are just in awe at your beauty. It is so amazing to me that you are Emmanuel, God who came close. You didn't just walk with us but you bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. And we go before the man of sorrows this morning and Lord we repent for veiling ourselves from you. We repent for being like Nicodemus and Marthad, hiding our pain, hiding our doubts from you because of fear, because of unbelief. This morning Lord I just ask for courage right now to do what Mary did. Mary didn't care. She didn't care what anyone thought of her. She didn't care that it looked undignified. She didn't care what anyone else thought. She had to expose those hidden things and what she came out with was revelation of God knowing him and being known by him. Lord we want to know you. We want to know this beautiful man who's given his life for us, who's died and is raised from the dead. So Lord I just ask for your healing to flow this morning to every heart.  Mental health issues Lord, death. Family members walking away. Saying goodbye to a child Lord. Saying bye to a parent Lord. All of these areas Lord I just ask for your healing to flow this morning as we throw ourselves at your feet. In Jesus name. Amen.