You Can't Skip the Wilderness

Moses never took the short way — neither did the promise.

Tonight: Exodus 14–18, the leadership burnout crisis Jethro solved 3,500 years ago, what AI displacement has in common with the Red Sea, and why the wilderness is not a detour. It's the road.

In this episode, we cover...
- FREEDOM OF SPEECH:  "What Moses Knew That Most Leaders Don't"
- FULL STORY: "You Can’t Skip the Wilderness"
- FROM THE NEWSFEED:  "She Listened. Most Leaders Haven't."
- FAITH & HOPE: "Five Chapters. Forty Years. One Promise"
- FATHER TIME: "Back in Time"
- FUNNY FACTORY: "The Israelites Got Wi-Fi in the Wilderness"
- FITNESS MINUTE: "The 40-Year Walk"

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📖 Jason's book "The Promise to the One": https://www.amazon.com/Promise-One-Ja...

🌐 Website: https://jasonhewlett.com/

The Jason Hewlett Show — Where we use lots of F Words: Faith, Family, Fatherhood, Freedom, Fitness, Funny & Farce, as well as the Fulfillment of your Promises.

Part of the MiTL Live Network.

#TheJasonHewlettShow #TheLongWayForward #Exodus #MosesLeadership #KeepThePromise #Pillar2 #JasonHewlett #Season2Premiere #RedSea #MannaFromHeaven

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, 15 weeks ago, I stepped into something I wasn't sure would work, and today I want to tell you about the man who made the same bet, except his commute was 40 years. Yep, coming up on the show, thank you for joining us. Uh today we're talking freedom of speech. What Moses knew that most leaders don't. We're gonna go into the Red Sea, how it gets the headlines, and Exodus 18 gets a leadership lesson. In the full story, you can't skip the wilderness. We treat breakthroughs like destinations. In reality, the miracle gets you out, but the wilderness gets the Egypt out of you. If you've ever heard that phrase, I love that. From the news feed, she listened. Most leaders haven't. I'm talking about Megan Trainer. You remember her? Yeah, she cancels her tour. Leaders keep taking every meeting, and Jethro shows up in 2026. And then Faith and Hope, five chapters, 40 years, one promise. We're gonna walk through Exodus 14 to 18. The sea, bitter water, manna, rock, amalek jethro, etc. And then in Father Time, I'll be telling you a story about what happened during COVID in our lives and a pandemic. And so hopefully you'll enjoy that. And then, of course, the funny factory, the Israelites got Wi-Fi in the wilderness, right? Yelp reviews of mana, Pharaoh PR, and a wilderness influencer. Then we'll get into the fitness minute. We're always sponsored by Cardio Miracle, the world's number one nitric oxide delivery, and one of the great supplements you can put in your body. We're gonna talk in the fitness minute, the 40-year walk. No Strava, no GPS, just showing up. The original endurance model coming up on the show. 15 weeks have changed me since I started this show. 15-year-old boy is gone, my son's dear friend. The performance was never the point, the truth was always better. Not finished, I'm changed. I'm Jason Hewlett. This is the Jason Hewlett. Today we're gonna focus on uh something that I've been studying for many, many years, but especially in the last month or so in our church and our faith, we've been studying the Exodus. From Exodus in the Holy Bible, Moses he had a resume no one would have hired. Think about it. He was wanted for murder in Egypt. Like this guy just was nothing was going right. He was a fugitive in the wilderness for 40 years, 80 years old when he got the call. He argued with God from inside a burning bush about whether there was someone else and there wasn't. He was he was chosen. He had a stutter, and he went anyway. What he did over the next 40 years is the most quoted leadership narrative in all of the Old Testament history, and not because he was perfect, he wasn't. That's why it's perhaps so relatable. Not because the plan worked. I mean, there really wasn't a plan, at least according to what he knew. He didn't know how God was working through him because he kept showing up for a promise he couldn't see the end of. And so here's what most people miss about Exodus. And this is going to apply into your life as we talk through it because that's what the scriptures do, right? When we read them, we apply them. If we read them every first thing in the morning, it's going to start our day in a great way. You know, we focus on the miracles in Exodus, but the story of Moses as a leader lives in the chapters between the miracles and in the complaints, especially. In the moments that people wanted to go back. Remember? They wanted to get out of there. And then the day his father-in-law flew in, watched one day of operations, said, Hey, you know what? What you're doing is not good. You will wear yourself out. So we're going to talk about Jethro. Yeah, his father-in-law. Exodus 18, the most practical chapter in pretty much the whole book. Moses was settling every dispute for two million people by himself. Jethro watched and said, Stop, build a system, delegate, reserve the hardest cases for yourself. Let the rest go. Moses listened. The Exodus continued. This is all great leadership lessons, and it's a powerful thing to uh study it, to think about it, and to consider how we can apply it in our lives. And the wilderness is not a detour. I think so often we believe that it must be. It must be this great detour out of where our life ought to be. But most people want to skip from Egypt to the Promised Land, but God doesn't permit it. What does he do? The wilderness is formation. I mean, even Jesus Christ suffered in the wilderness and was tempted, and that was where it really showed his mettle that he could get through the challenges of the physical body and the the suffering and so forth. And so the wilderness is something we all must go through. And you're being shaped for something the miracle alone couldn't have given you. And so we're going to talk today about Aaron and her and uh holding up the arms of Moses and Jethro and the promise carried them, and the plan didn't. There was no plan, like I said. The promise is not a map, it's a direction. And you and you do not need to see the full route to take the next step. So we're going to talk today about who is your Jethro. Who has the outside view of your life that you can't have yourself? And are you letting them speak? I know for me, um, love my father-in-law, uh, he's a great man. Uh, the the outside voices that help me the very most would have to be essentially the beautiful wife that I live with and my my amazing companion, you know. I mean, she sees that that thing in me as a leader or as a father or as a husband, as a person in the community, as somebody online that people know or on and on stages, she's absolutely the great mentor for me. And uh, so who's your Jethro? And are are you caring more than today requires? Or are you hoarding problems or receiving the daily portion? We're gonna talk about manna from heaven, all those good things. You know this story most likely, and I hope you do. But what step are you waiting to take until you have certainty? And what if the certainty is on the other side of the step? If you remember in uh Indiana Jones, he's just facing a chasm, he has to step into the void without knowing that there's something there to hold him up. He can't see the steps in front of him, and so sometimes we just need to take that first step. So, today, as we go into the full story, Moses didn't build systems because it was efficient, he built them because Jethro told him the truth. Here we go into the full story. Yes, we're in the Holy Bible today. If you have yours, might be cool to look up. Uh, we're going to Exodus 14 through 18 today. It's a it's some good stuff. I've marked it all up. There's so many great lines in here. But the miracle, the miracle happens, then the good part starts. That's the version. Moses blew it up. The Red Sea parted. You know that story. Three days later, complaining about the water. The miracle wasn't the destination, it was the entry point to 40 years of wilderness, and the wilderness did something the miracle couldn't. It formed them, the children of Israel. The wilderness is not what happens before your life starts, it's where your life is built. You can't skip it, but if you trust it, the manna shows up every morning, and exactly enough for today. You know, when they were the Egyptians were coming after the children of Israel after these ten scourges or uh terrible things that had come upon them. These these terrible things were things were attacking them, you know, locusts and and disease, and then uh, you know, the firstborn of each was killed, which was all these promises made. Like, if you don't let my people go, you will have some problems. And they did. They had ten of these that were so bad, finally, the Pharaoh, once his son finally died, he finally gave up and let him leave. And they left, and then they started chasing him again. Moses said unto the people when they were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. Now they're standing there like, what the heck, man? We just got out of there. Now we have nowhere to go, and they're chasing us. Moses said unto the people, and this is in Exodus 14, 13, Fear ye not, stand still. Aha. It's hard to stand still when you're facing something extremely difficult, when you're facing uh what looks like the end. Hard to stand still. I think I most people just get busy. And in this case, I'm sure people want to run around and freak out. He said, Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you this day. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. And they're like, What are you talking about? They're coming, they're going to probably take us back or kill us. This is my favorite verse in Exodus. It says, The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. That's my favorite scripture in Exodus 14, 14. The Lord shall fight for you. The Lord has fought for you in so many different ways. I hope that today is whether you're a believer in a certain faith or religion, it doesn't matter, but rather hopefully you believe in something great, which is a God up above who is the great and powerful, the almighty, that you know that the Lord shall fight for you. How are the blessings in your life coming? Can you open up a journal and write down what it is that you know the Lord is gifting you with? Even just the other day I was driving and I was thinking, it's a miracle we're driving. It's a miracle I have a family, it's a miracle I'm healthy, it's a miracle I can go on this trip, it's a miracle I can afford this trip, it's a miracle I do what I do for a living. When we start to think about the many ways in which the Lord fights for us to give us the peace, the joy, the comforts and the happiness that we have. It's a miracle. And hopefully you have lots of miracles that you recognize from your life, whether it's some grandiose thing like a Red Sea parting, or something as simple as, You woke up today. What is that miracle for you? The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cries thou unto me, speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. I mean, this sounds impossible, it sounds ridiculous. And then it happens. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided, and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and their left. And the Egyptians pursued. And if you remember, eventually the Israelites made it through the Egyptians, were covered in the water, taken out. The Lord will fight for you. The Lord shall fight for you. In what ways has he fought for you? I hope that as you think about it today, there is no map. There is no I mean, are you waiting for a map before you move? Clarity follows obedience, not the other way around. And so we need to be obedient, we need to walk forward with faith, we need to we need to know that in this time of tribulation that we are living in, which is a very difficult situation, whether we agree with what's happening in the world and the decisions people and leaders are making within our country of the United States, is there a way that we can have great faith in the the Lord and his plan for us and will he fight for us? I believe he is. So, what if God took the long way on purpose? I think that's what he does. He always does, right? Moses didn't build systems because it was efficient, he built them because Jethro told him the truth. This week, the news has its own version of that moment from the news feed right after this. Story one, Megan Trainer just canceled her entire summer tour. Do you remember Megan Trainor? Because I'm all about no trouble. You remember that song? Yeah, I once made a parody of that song with my kids singing it as I was trying to get them to go to bed. You know, they would be upstairs and I'd be like, guys, what are you doing? Because they were little and I'd be like, brush your teeth, and they're up there going, you know, just with the toothpaste just all over their face and all over the mirror, like, you know, and then to be up there brushing their teeth, like, I'm all about toothpaste, that toothpae, no bubbles. I'm all about toothpae, that toothpaith, no bubbles. Yeah. Only a few people got that one, but it was fun. For the seven that liked it. Megan Trainor just canceled her entire summer tour. Why is this news that I want to share? Well, she had a new album, Toy With Me, dropped the same week she made the announcement. Venues booked across the country. People freaking out. They're so excited to see Megan Trainor. She's got a new look. She's she's gotten extremely healthy, she looks great, she's ready to go, she's a great, incredible singer, songwriter. She had uh 18 million followers and a Grammy for Best New Artist. And she also has a three-month-old baby girl, and now they have a family of five. And so Megan Trainer looked at everything in front of her and said, hmm. I'm balancing the release of a new album, I'm preparing for a nationwide tour that's selling really well, and I'm welcoming our new baby, who has just been born, and this is a little bit more than I can take on right now. I need to be home and be present. She canceled the tour before the first date. Now, there are people that are ripping her to shreds online that are saying, you should have known better, you should have planned better. Like I had my I I have my tickets, I was I couldn't wait to see you, and now we can't see you, and it's terrible. Yeah, that's why I'm talking about this. She cancelled the tour before the first date, not because she failed, but because she had the clarity to name what was too heavy. She had a lot going on. And mostly she had a new baby. She chose motherhood. I love it. She chose to stay home and do that thing that only she can do for the time that this baby will have at this age. That's amazing. I love it. That's that's exactly how it ought to be. She can tour next year, no question. She can tour another time. She's going to have fans for a long time. She's that great. And the tour can wait. The babies will grow up without you if you're not there. I am so impressed with her doing this. People are upset. That's because they don't have the perspective, perhaps, of understanding how precious these moments and times are. Being a father first, a mother first, these types of things are essential. Yes, we have to go out and make a living. Yes, we have to do what we have to do for our family, but Megan Trainor heard from inside herself and listened. Just like Jethro looked at Moses and said, Hey, that thing's too heavy for you. You can you cannot do it alone. Megan Traynor heard the same thing as Moses. And and you know, Moses had to wait for someone else to say it out loud, but Megan got there first. I love it. Today's portion is a three-month-old daughter. The tour will wait. Good for Megan Trainer. That's the news this week. Let's jump into faith and hope. Alright. Five chapters, 40 years, one promise. We're going to chapter 14, the Red Sea, Exodus. Yeah. So let's jump into this a little bit deeper. The Pharaoh's armies behind them, seas in front, the Red Sea, 600 chariots. Moses says, Do not be afraid, stand firm, and you will see the salvation of the Lord. You guys seen the movie Charlton Heston? Yeah. It was uh Cecil B. the Mill. What an incredible movie. I hope that you'll check out the Ten Commandments, one of the most epic movies you'll ever see. So that can help you visualize it if you can't think of how this could be possible. And uh, of course, Arnold Freeberg, who became a friend of mine essentially before he passed, he was the artist that actually did all the costuming and won an Academy Award for it. And uh he was a member of my faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And so Arnold Freeberg painted all the paintings that accompanied the promotion of the Ten Commandments, Cecil to be the mill, and did the Charlton Heston costume, the you know, the beautiful robes and everything that those people wore. I love that movie, I love the story. But when we think about the Lord saying, stand firm, stand still, and then move. The sea parts, walls of water on both sides, dry ground below, they walk through, the army drowns behind them, and on the far shore, Miriam gets a tambourine, and it's the greatest moment of their lives. You know, she's playing some instrument. And three days later, what's happening? Now the children of Israel have just been saved, and of course, now they're complaining three days later about the water. In chapter 15, they come to Mara, the bitter water. It's three days from the Red Sea, the greatest miracle in their history. Three days behind them. It was now the water at Marah is bitter. What are we to drink? God shows Moses a piece of wood. This is so odd, right? He throws it in and the water becomes sweet. I don't know what was in that wood. Little Stevia, the miracle doesn't inoculate you against doubt. The gratitude has a short shelf life, and this is the human condition. I mean, we can't blame the children of Israel. They're probably like, it was so much better back there. Why did we just come here? Man, this happens a lot. Chapter 15 is the warning, chapter 16 is manna. Six weeks after Egypt. Now they're hungry, man. In Egypt, we sat around pots of food. You brought us here to starve. Mana. Every morning. This was a major promise. Six days a week. Remember this? Thin flakes on the ground, like bread taste like honey wafers. Enough for today, nevermind. If you gather any extra, it's gonna rot and mold overnight. So just get what you need, and there'll be enough for everybody. And the miracle required one act of faith. The mana required a new one every single morning for 40 years, a new miracle. And that's harder. I mean, that's the wilderness economy. Sufficiency today, trust that tomorrow it comes. I mean, that's scary. These are such great lessons. Chapter 17, Water from the Rock, Aaron and Her. They're thirsty again. God tells Moses, strike the rock at Horeb. Moses strikes it. Water pours out of a rock. Wow. Miracles upon miracles. The provision comes from the wrong place, which is the pattern. Faith says the answer will come, not necessarily from where we're looking. Then Amalek attacks breakthrough, doesn't eliminate battles, it introduces new ones, right? Like you think, okay, we got past that challenge. Now we don't have any more. Oh, now there's a worse one. Uh Moses holds his staff up and Israel wins. He drops his arms, and what happens? Amalek advances. So Aaron and her hold his arms up until the battle is won. This is the original support system. And now we get to chapter 18 with Jethro, the father-in-law. Moses' father-in-law arrives. He hears the story. He worships God, and the next morning watches Moses work. Moses holds court all day. Every person, every dispute, every case personally. This is just crazy. And Jesuit says, Hey, what you're doing is not good. You will certainly wear yourself out. The thing is too heavy for you. You cannot do it alone. Have you ever felt that as a leader? I know I have. When I'm trying to do everything, and I easily could allow other leaders to lead around me. Set up leaders, he said, of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens. Reserve the hard cases, let the rest go. If you felt this is a leader, you know how hard it is to let someone else do the heavy lifting. I can tell you let me just give you a little behind the scenes on this show. I would say for almost a decade I've talked about making a broadcast or a podcast that was consistent. I've been talking about it. I've been so busy doing other things that I didn't make it happen. Because I was planning on doing it alone. And every time I went live, I realized how uncomfortable it was and how much work was left to be done, how hard it was to create the content and get things ready. And then this last year I was introduced to Mornings in the Lab with my friend Keith and John and these their team is is is incredible people. It's uh behind the scenes, it's Mildred and Melissa, and I mean they're all they're all helping me at all times to succeed. They're my team to make this show happen. Where in the past I was like, oh, I can do it alone. No, I couldn't. It was unsustainable. It was too hard for me to do alone. I have a team, even if I look like I'm just sitting in my office, the way that the content's lined out, the way that there's segments to this, the way that there's some production value that I'm really proud of, I mean, I'm gonna jump over the piano in a minute. Hopefully it works today. There are things that I can control and I'll do my best, and and oftentimes the problems that we have are because I, as a producer person, don't know what I'm doing, but they know what they're doing. And I'm so thankful for the team. And when I think about people holding up the arms of Moses, that's what your team does if you allow them to keep the promise. If you allow them to use their signature moves. You see, this is my signature moves, talking and being on here and doing this. And yet, without the support of everyone behind the scenes that you don't see and you have not met, I mean, you can see Keith, you can watch his mornings in the lab. It's a killer show. He does it every single morning. The guy's freaking machine, he's up at 4 a.m. or something crazy. I mean, he asked me to come on his show and he said, pick a time, and I logged in, it said 6 a.m. I was like, it says 6 a.m. every day. What's wrong with this thing? That's what he does. So I'm just saying, within all of this concept is the power of team. And the remote, the most remarkable thing in Exodus 18 is that Moses listens. No defense, no pushback. He heard the truth from someone he trusted and he changed. So when you think about the leadership lesson with that, not the C parting, not the mana, the willingness to hear, you cannot do this alone and actually believe it. I would love for you to just look at my show as an example. There are many, many people that have been wondering why I couldn't do this and hadn't started it for a decade. Well, we finally started it in 2026. This is show number what? I'm trying to remember. Show number 16. Wow. I had to scroll up pretty far to find that. It's amazing to think that we have done this this long because this is not something that I've ever been able to pull off before. And it's because of a team. What's the promise of your leadership and the promise of letting the team do the job so you don't have to carry it all along? Five chapters The Red Sea, the Mana, the Rock, the Battle in Jethro. Go read it. Exodus 14 to 18. Powerful. Each one asks something of you in every week, one of them is your week. We're gonna talk now, Father Time, right after this. Okay, when it comes to Father Time, I want you to think about when you've come up against your Red Sea. When have you had your mana moment? When has the Lord fought for you? Let me tell you what happened in 2020 to us. And if you followed my career, you know that this is absolutely what happened. It was a crazy experience for every single one of us. And so you have your story. I know you do. Everyone has their story of how they survived it and either had a really rough time or thrived in that situation. I think it was March 12th, perhaps, of 2020 when I got the call that uh each client that I had booked was canceling. And then by the 13th or 14th, all of them for 2020 were gone. They just all canceled. They used a force majeure on an uh agreement that we had that was like, hey, we can't use you. I begged and pleaded for them to stick it out, to hang with me, to let's go virtual, even though I didn't know how to do it on a camera. And a majority of them said no thanks and bailed. And so my family and I are sitting here, we're now quarantining. Remember? We had to we had to stay in our house. Stay in your house, don't leave. I mean, this thing was crazy, as you remember. Wear a mask while you're driving yourself in a car. It's like, mm-hmm, that's helpful. But I digress. I remember thinking, okay, I am not gonna be able to pay my mortgage now. And I had for whatever reason not paid off my house as of yet. And so that was part of the problem. But then it was like, how do you get gigs when I don't even know how to go virtual because I can't leave, they weren't doing events. And so, like I say, you had your own challenge, you were going through. Mine was how do I do a gig for my house? And I needed to, of course, get on a camera. I'm I'm not comfortable on a camera, I'm comfortable in front of people because you can feel what they're feeling and you can adjust, and you can feel like I I think this is working, or it's not. Let me let me figure it out. Eventually, got a camera working. I couldn't just use my laptop because the laptop, you know, just didn't look right, looked all fuzzy. I wanted a nice camera, but then I didn't have a way to hook it into my computer because I didn't have what's called a capture card. And and then, you know, like a little like a cam link is what it's called. It's an HDMI to USB, and it was just like every little thing that I tried to get on Amazon was that was normally like a hundred dollars, was now like a thousand. And and it was on eBay for thousands of dollars, the things that I needed because everyone in their right mind was buying it all at the same time, too. And so Red Sea. I mean, bills coming up, we cancelled all kinds of subscriptions and things. I'm sure you went through something similar. We obviously, you know, didn't eat out. I mean, we just hunkered down, we did our best in the family, and we did church at home, we did school at home, we tried to log on, we tried to get better Wi-Fi, and the next thing we know um I've got multiple cameras and I can't use them. I'm stringing things together, buying them from friends, buying them from anybody that would leave it at my house in a basket and uh brown paper back. Well, the Red Sea moment and the mana from heaven. It's interesting how the Lord delivers us because as a father I really needed somebody to step in and help me. And I had a friend named Sean who he called me out of the blue and he goes, Hey man, how are you doing? I know this is a tough time, you've lost all your work. I said, Yeah, I'm not doing well. I need this piece of equipment that I can't find. It's an ATEM switcher, it's a black magic A Tem switcher. It's got all these buttons on it that connect multiple cameras, and it would allow me to switch between cameras in my office to put on a show rather than just one camera that's straight on. He said, How much is it? And I go, I mean it's usually like $300, but like I it's like thousands of dollars on eBay. I I don't know. And he goes, Okay, um, I'll get back to you. And this was the next day I got a package on the front porch. The 80 switcher. Sean bought it for me. Just because he wanted to help me. Mana from heaven. It took me a couple weeks to figure out how to plug it in and get it working. But guess what happened next? Outside of all the challenges from Wi-Fi not working, us getting COVID, getting really sick, all those things. Finally got it working. Finally got multiple cameras. I had this office decked out, it was incredibly cool. COVID was a great time. We bonded so close as a family, and equally, as we lost all my work, we found new ways to make money by doing gigs online and by doing virtual performances and speeches. It was um an amazing time. And you know, as much as I missed being in front of people, I really loved reading a chat on Zoom of what people thought while I was performing. Because that was like reading their mind. And I could perform and look and comment, and then they would they they would be stunned that I was able to look at everything while I'm playing the piano and doing other stuff. I only share that story with you today because that was a mana from heaven moment provided by God up above through his servant, my friend Sean. In every Red Sea moment, we will have those if we have faith and as a dad, if we'll be strong and firm in the promise. And so, my friends, I hope that you uh enjoyed this, and I hope that I can now take you to more of a funny place, if you will, because we uh, you know, the five chapters are everywhere once you know what to look for in terms of Exodus, and and for some people, they're living them in places Exodus never imagined. And so we're gonna do something really interesting in the funny factor. I hope you enjoy it. Funny factor, right after this. All right, the Israelites got Wi-Fi in the wilderness, right? Let's just imagine this. A Yelp review for manna. Four stars. No, just kidding. But uh, it'd be almost like, hey, I've been coming here every morning for six weeks, literally every morning, never missed a day, not through lack of trying. Menu hasn't changed once. Flaky, a little sweet, melts before noon. Honestly, not bad the first time, but the repetition, uh, five stars for availability, zero stars for variety. Yeah, I asked the manager about adding some options. He said something about gratitude, zero resolution. Do not recommend if you enjoy having choices. This is a review from the Tan from the Wilderness of Sin. Uh, 47 people found this review helpful. That would be so funny, right? How about an update from the Faroe Communications office? He says, Oh, good morning. Thank you for attending the post Red Sea briefing. A few clarifications. First, the departing of the sea has not been verified by our meteorology department. We're treating this as an anomalous weather event. Second, the report that 600 chariots were submerged. We cannot confirm this as our equipment is unavailable for comment. And third, the former workforce has departed. Uh, it was a mass exodus of workers. We are framing this as a voluntary exit program. HR is reviewing options. Questions? No, good. Okay, the Pharaoh will not be taking questions at this time. He's been having a rough month about the wilderness influencer. Day one. Hey guys, welcome back. If you're new here, I'm Eli Ab, and today is day one of my 40-year wilderness challenge. Super excited, bro. Yeah, we got two million followers. Well, or travelers, I mean, zero bars of service. Yeah, but we are out here, bro. The mana situation, a little polarizing the comments. I get it, but the cloud is giving main character energy. Moses is giving don't talk to me right now, energy. I'll keep you posted. Like and subscribe for daily updates, right? Assuming the mana doesn't run out, and we'll starve to death, which apparently it won't. Anyway, you're one. Ah, I love that. I love the idea of thinking like, what were those guys thinking in the midst of all that? It's crazy time. And so I was also thinking today I'd like to show you on the piano. I'm gonna do a piece that I haven't done before. Um, nobody's heard this actually. I hope I play it right. But I I originally wrote this as the intro of the show. And instead, after playing it a few different times and recording things, and I realized I wanted to use my traveling man song because that's been uh a great song that's accompanied me for a while. I'm gonna remind you of what that sounds like. It's this. All right, so that's a winner of a song. It's been proven that people enjoy that one. So that's why this one, I wrote it many, many years ago with the intention of talking over it while I was playing it and talking about who I was gonna introduce to the podcast. I was gonna have guests and all these things. And so I was playing it where I could speak over the top. I'm not gonna speak over that this time. I'm just gonna play you what the sound would have sounded like. This is the essentially what I would have played if I didn't have the traveling man as the intro of this show. We're gonna jump over the piano. Like I say, I'm not gonna sing, it's just an instrumental and it goes like this. I think it was a good choice. But I thought you'd enjoy hearing a little behind the scenes of what we almost did, and sometimes we just have to laugh about how it turns out. So, we've talked about today, two million people, 40 years. Every complaint we make today was already in the text. There is one more thing Moses knew, and it lives in your body. We're gonna wrap this episode up with the fitness minute right after this. All right. This uh portion of the podcast and the whole podcast really is uh is uh is sponsored by Cardio Miracle. I'm grateful for the Cardio Miracle, and if you're not sure what that is, we're gonna talk about it in just a moment. But when it comes to this topic of fitness, uh two million people walked for 40 years through a desert. No apps, no GPS, no playlist, just get up in the morning, eat what God put on the ground, walk. That's the original endurance model. They arrived. The mana principle for your body. What does your body need today? Not the crash diet, not the transformation program you'll ban in next week. Today's portion, actual food, actual rest, actual movement. You can't hoard your health, you can only practice it daily. And I think about when I'm doing what I know that I should on a daily basis, it's getting in that cold plunge, it's doing my sauna, it's doing the treadmill, it's walking outside, it's doing my workout. There's so much that you have to try to do, but the question is, what does your body need today? And you can only practice it daily. And what Moses modeled physically was walking and never stopping. Moses was 80 when this all started. He climbed mountains, he held his arms up in battle. He was still sharp at 120. Uh, I don't know. What what that looks like today is just to walk. I've spoken on other podcasts about walk without a podcast and and walk without your earbuds in at least once a week. Just try it. It's the oldest practice in the world, just walking, and for 40 years it was enough. And so when it comes to your body, I hope that you'll get outside. I hope that you'll treat it like a temple that it is. Because God has blessed you with a sacred body and treat it kindly. Drink enough water, eat what's good for your body, eat what you know that you should. Because when you eat something you know you shouldn't, you pay for it later, and it shows on our body and our face and our energy and our minds. And that's why I talk about cardiomerical, is because when it comes to cardiomerical, this is an extremely beneficial tool. If you're feeling the effects of aging, if you're feeling that your body's starting to kind of get a little bit crampier and older and achy, try some cardiomerical. It'll go into your bloodstream and dilate the blood vessels and make you feel so much better. I can testify to that because I've been taking it now for many, many years, and it's been something that's transformed my health. If you've seen me in person, you know I'm looking way different than I did a couple years back. Cardiomiracle is one of my great solutions and answers. I hope that you'll check it out if you want to go get some at uh cardiomiracle.com. And you can try it for 60 days. There's a money-back guarantee, so you can just try it. It's not a difficult thing to you know take a chance on yourself. And maybe you don't want it for you. Maybe you know somebody that's really sick, or you know somebody who's got high blood pressure, needs better blood flow. Maybe they have diabetes and they need better blood flow. Um, maybe they have some PTSD or some extra stress. Maybe you know somebody who's gone through a major injury and now they have surgery. Guess what happens when you have surgery? You need to have blood flowing to that area, and it will recover so much faster therapeutically and naturally. This is not a medication, it's just a simple thing that you put in your water. You just you just pour it in water and mix it up, and it's an incredible, delicious drink. I hope that you'll try it out. I hope that you enjoy it, and hope that you know that I'm grateful for everybody that's willing to try it. So I hope that you'll go out and you'll consider for yourself that the Exodus is not a story about just a miracle, it's a story about formation. And yeah, there are miracles within it, but God didn't deliver Israel from Egypt to spare them the wilderness, He delivered them so the wilderness could make them who they needed to be. You cannot shortcut that. Moses didn't. Two million people didn't, you won't either. Most people want the miracle without the wilderness that makes them ready for it, but the miracle gets you out. The wilderness gets you there. Fifteen weeks ago, I started this show. I stepped into something I wasn't sure was gonna work. I mean, I still don't know how big of an audience this is ever gonna get. And to me, it doesn't matter because I feel it's an important enough work to put In the time and the effort every single week. And I've had my Red Sea moments. I've eaten the mana one day at a time. I've sometimes one Thursday at a time. And I've had my Jethro moments. Where someone I trust said, Hey, this is not sustainable. And I've had the people around me who held up my arms when I couldn't. That's season one. Today we begin season two. The promise is still forward. The wilderness is still the road. And the direction hasn't changed. Even when the mana is the same as yesterday, and you can't see where you're going. So just keep walking. Go outside and go for a walk. Keep your word. Keep the promise. Very simple. And that's our show. I'm thrilled you joined me today. Thank you to those who commented. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to look at that. Thank you for being here. And I hope that you'll share this with your friends. I hope that you like and subscribe. I hope that you check it out. We go live every Thursday at 3 p.m. on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, anywhere we can connect, Twitter, X, whatever the heck it's called now. I'm Jason Hewlett. This has been the Jason Hewlett Show season two. Yeah. I'll see you next Thursday. Have a great night.