Water is Life!

Hi, this is Joanne Vigner with the podcast It's Storytime Memaw and answered prayer for stories that point children to God. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. I'm talking about water and maybe one of the most knowledgeable people I know about water I'm sitting with right now. He's been a great Christian radio sponsor. He's supported a lot of wonderful things. He's been a friend a long time. His name is Jerry Smith. Jerry, it's good to finally have you on the program. It's good to see you.

He also gives me a hard time a lot. He might do it during this interview, but you're going to hear some stuff today that will shock you, but you'll also hear some real encouraging things about your health. And it's also wonderful to talk to a Christian business owner who's trying to make a difference in the world with Christ and with business. So Jerry, real quick, how long have you been in the water business? I've been in the water business approximately 41 years.

41 years? And how did you get into the water business? Well, I got into the water business because I got to looking at our environment years ago and what's going on in the earth, in the world. And we have the same water now we've had since creation.

Not anymore, not any less. And then I looked at approximately 1% of water on earth is available for human consumption. The rest of the water is in the ocean or in ice caps. And so I said, wow, if we're reusing this water over and over through the hydrological cycle, through evaporation, precipitation, with all the contaminants out there today in our environment, I said, man, the people's going to need pure clean water to survive in a healthy environment, you know, for their health.

And we developed a way to do that through vapor compression distillation. And I look at the definition of water. The definition of water is 11% hydrogen, 89% oxygen. Nothing more, nothing less. That is pure water.

H2O. So all these bottles of water. Now, by the way, I talked to my dad. You and I have talked to dad before and driven around and talked about how the older generation is still kind of laughing that people can put water in a bottle and sell it for five bucks for ridiculous amounts of money.

So this phenomena a few decades ago wasn't as big. Now it's everywhere, Jerry. There's water bottles. But your company is Lebleu.

L-E-B-L-E-U. Lebleu Ultra-Pure bottled water. And you started this thing to address exactly what you said, to help people have good pure H2O. But if bottled water was available 100 years ago, like in a country store, people would have purchased it at that time.

Why? Because it meets a basic human need. It's the one product on earth you can't live without. And that's water. And if water had been available, like I said, in a little country store or anywhere, two cents a bottle, people would have purchased it over other products because water creates its own demand because you have to have this product to live. There's a statement, water is life, that a lot of folks use.

Water is life. We went to Sudan and we drilled wells with the Persecution Project Foundation. You guys supported that trip.

Lebleu supported that. And it really was amazing to see people who were drinking nasty, dirty water from the White Nile River in South Sudan. When we drilled a well and brought it up for them, it changed their whole life.

Like they literally were about to bury their dead before we got there. And so you're you're meeting a need that's so pressing, but not all bottled water is created equal. No, it isn't. A lot of people think because it's in a bottle, it's pure.

That's far from the truth. There's some bottled waters out there that have nitrates in them. Some bottled waters has silica, cadmium, chromium, things like that. Some bottled waters have arsenic in it.

You know, you would say, well, wow, I can't believe that. But it's true. What a lot of people that just takes the water out of the ground, puts it in a bottle, they're going to put in that bottle what is in that ground. Because, as you know, water is a universal solvent and it's going to dissolve anything in its path until it becomes heavy, saturated with inorganics. And that's why we take all those things out of the water, because we believe the body needs pure H2O. We've even had doctors to tell us your water is addicted to the cells in the body, all 32 trillion cells in the body.

Why? Because every cell requires water and there's no foreign matter there in our water. And that's why people love our water so much. We get emails from all over the world because we have a plant in the Cayman Islands, a plant in St. Thomas.

And people go to these tourist towns or tourist islands and they buy the blue. Wow. So I'm looking at your brochure here, Jerry. And I'm just and by the way, if you just join us, I'm Stu Everson sitting with Jerry Smith, longtime mentor, business owner, Christian business owner, Le Blue Ultra Pure Bottled Water. Many of you have heard me talk about him. But it's neat to talk to someone about the Lord, their testimony and about really a product that every one of us right now listen to my voice. Every one of us needs water.

There's not a soul listening that doesn't need it. With a hot, brutal, brutal humid summers, you need water. You need to be stay hydrated. Jerry, you talk a lot about hydration, but the back of your brochure, Jerry, you got all these doctors. I'm talking ear, nose and throat doctors.

I'm talking doctors. I can't even pronounce their field, you know, nutritionist and people that work in all kinds of allergens and stuff like that that are saying things like, I recommend Le Blue bottled water to all my patients with chemical allergies that you're talking about the importance of pure water. And really, that's a ministry in of itself, getting in this bottle what you get in here.

I see your trucks everywhere. A lot of folks listening are like, you know, I don't have Le Blue where I'm, you know, where I'm listening to Truth Talk. Well, we need to find a way to get it to everybody. But it's if our body's the temple, Jerry, you take this very seriously, don't you? In your plant and getting the right water for people.

Oh, yeah. We try to make the purest best taste in water in the market. We believe we do this from consumers telling us this. We spend a lot of money taking all these inorganics out of the water that we know are not beneficial to the human body because they're in an inorganic state. So you got these people that claim to have mineral water. This is a real big misnomer. People that say, well, look at all the things that are added to my water, vitamins and this and that.

But you can't really get that into the system. The body, God made us to our bodies for pure H2O. Everything found in water that comes out of the earth is in an inorganic state. It's never gone through the process. All of these inorganic minerals that people talk about, they're all in an inorganic state.

They've never been processed. They've never gone through the process of photosynthesis and osmosis. For example, if you take iron and water, that's like iron ore. But if you take iron in your garden, in your cabbage or lettuce or spinach through the osmosis and the photosynthesis process, it becomes organic.

You're living, that plant's living. But to say that you can take a white rock, which is calcium carbonate, which is in water, to say your body could assimilate that, it's totally ridiculous. So what you do to it to get it to pure H2O is a simple process, but it's a very important process. Well, it's God's process. It's distillation. That's God's hydrological cycle through evaporation and precipitation. When the water comes out of the sky, other than the environmental contaminants, it's as pure as possible because it's raining hydrogen and oxygen.

Isn't that something? Through those clouds, through the whole atmosphere, it comes right down and that's the purest form of water. So the blue, you're really trying to get that pure water. That's what you all do here. That's what you're getting out under your trucks, the five-gallon service, which we have at our house at the radio station. My parents have it.

They love it. And then also the bottles that you have that are also sold, I guess, in retail and whatnot. But not everyone has it yet, but you're growing, aren't you?

You're trying to get out there. Over a million people a day drink the blue-bottomed water somewhere in their home or office. We have about 60,000 five-gallon customers that we deliver water to to their homes.

And we don't worry about competition because we know we can't make our water any better. And our competition has to improve to be competitive with our product. Yeah, very good.

And this is a company, too, that you've really strived to put God first in everything from the health part to honoring him with support, all kinds of Christian radio. Comment on that, that visual. That's pretty powerful that you're holding up there. Absolutely. The body is over 70 percent water.

And I want you as a consumer to think about this. The body's over 70 percent water. The brain is over 74 percent water. The heart, 75. The lungs, 86. The liver, 86. The kidneys, 82. The muscles, 75.

The blood, 83. So doesn't it make pure sense to put pure water in your body that doesn't have to deal with those inorganic minerals and inorganic chemicals that are in a lot of the bottled water out there? And I truly believe the reason why everybody don't process their water the way we do is they don't want to spend the money to take that stuff out of the water.

We take it out because we know it's not good for you. More with Jerry Smith after this quick break. And also, how did he come to the Lord? What's his personal testimony and how has Christ changed his life and how that is woven into the whole Le Blue story and his water and what he's doing in business to make a difference, too? Hang on. Truth Talk. More coming up with Stu Everson and our special guest after this. A rare visit with one of our longtime partners of Truth Talk and the Truth Network. You've heard me talk about these folks. What I love about these guys is they put their water where their mouth is. They really believe in their product. And I tell you, we talk about our bodies, the temple, but then we go eat certain ways and we drink certain things that even some waters out there are chock full of sodium and other things that you would never want to put in your body.

But there's some folks that have come up with a water. I'm talking to them right now. You've heard about them. Le Blue. L-E-B-L-E-U.

Ultra Pure Bottled Water. And what's neat is to talk to them about the bigger picture of the kingdom. And Jerry, I come out here and talk to you. We end up talking about what God's doing in the world, these big picture things, saving our country, getting our country back to God.

We talk more about that than business a lot of times. So there's a faith part to you, Jerry. And I came in here one day. You said you're not going to believe what just happened.

And I said, what? And you said, well, we just had a gentleman in here who received Christ in the conference room, which we're sitting in here right now interviewing. I'm Stu Everson. Across from the table is Jerry Smith.

We've got a nice mic boom set up here. Jerry, tell us about your faith. Like you said you've been in the water business for about 41 years, which is a long time. And Le Blue Ultra Pure Bottled Water has been God's blessing.

There's trucks all over the place. I can't believe a million people drink your water every day. That's pretty cool.

Absolutely. But tell us about how you came to know the Lord. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior years and years ago.

It was quite an experience. I knew I was saved. And I said, I need to accept Christ as my savior. And I did that. And the Lord has blessed me.

I don't even know. I'm not the smartest kid on the block, but I know that the Lord has blessed me abundantly. And I keep thinking I wake up in the mornings. Just this morning, I walked outside and I was just walking around and thinking, why has the Lord blessed me so much? You know, I guess it's kind of like that verse. I will bless the nations that bless my name. And nations are made up of people. Yeah, I think that's why the Lord has blessed me so much.

Wow. You were a football player growing up. Every time I talk to you, I hear a different story. But what blew me away, and you don't have to talk about it here, I'm putting you on the spot, is you chose to ride or go a different way to go somewhere. And everyone in that car that went died in a horrible crash. And even then, you see God's hand in your life.

Like, you shouldn't even be here today, but the mercies of God, right? Yeah, I was in Oklahoma. I was supposed to be in that car with five of my teammates. And for some reason, I didn't get in the car. And all five of them were killed on the Will Rogers turnpike. Terrible accident.

They were in a Jeep Ranger and a tractor and trailer hit them head on and killed all five of my teammates. Wow. I was supposed to be in there.

There was no doubt I wasn't. But for some reason, the Lord didn't let me get in that car. Yeah, wow.

Thank you, Lord. Well, I think about that like yesterday, the Le Blue truck pulled into my driveway to bring our water. And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, if God hadn't kept you alive, there wouldn't be a Le Blue. But also all the people you employ, all the folks, you have licensees all over the place.

You know, where are all, if you can generally tell me where they all are, because someone listening might be in a state that doesn't have Le Blue. And they're like, hey, I want the opportunity. You've given people opportunities. Folks, this isn't bad. There's a good capitalism. OK, this isn't bad.

Giving people an opportunity to create something brilliant. But Le Blue is still growing, just like Chick-fil-A is in a lot of places. Well, there's places that don't have Le Blue yet.

Jerry, where are you and where are you trying to go? We have five gallon licensees and about 18 of them in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. We're getting ready to start opening up Georgia, Savannah, Georgia.

We also just got an inquiry from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And eventually where we have 18 licensees now, we believe in four or five years, we'll have 100 to 150 licensees throughout the U.S. Because people really do demand their product after they drink their product. You drink a bottle of Le Blue. You know, the Bible says whatever you do, do with all your heart. You know, Colossians 3, 23, do it as the Lord, not as the men. You have made a water that is biblical because it's pure H2O, like God made it. But you're also doing it excellent.

Like your franchisees, they have a, this is a quality product. You don't compromise that, do you? No, we say on our bottle, not bottled water on the market today, we tell people on our label, buy a bottle of your favorite water. Then buy a bottle of Le Blue and let your body make the choice. Yeah. Wow. You know, because your body tells the brain everything, then that's what we tell people.

Let your body make that choice. So someone's looking for an opportunity, a young person, someone that maybe wants to franchise out and grow. They could be a Le Blue licensee, is that what you call it? You know, Florida has yet to take this.

I mean, that would be phenomenal. You know, out west, think of the western states. I think of, like you mentioned, Georgia, Savannah. We have a lot of listeners there that listen to us on The Truth. But really, an opportunity to be connected with a faith-based company, too, that's making a difference and that's also trying to give back.

And you've done a lot of that throughout the years. Jerry, what's your challenge to Christian-owned businesses out there about honoring Christ and doing good business at the same time? Well, you can't leave the Lord out of your business. You leave the Lord out of your business, you're in trouble. If you're saved, he wants to be first. No matter how good you think you're doing or how much money you're making, he still wants you first in his life. Amen. Wow. And in your life, he wants to be first.

And I think that's where we mess up. I've done it myself. You leave the Lord out, he'll bring you down and get you back in line. Well, I've seen you many a time. I brought people out here interested in doing business with you, Jerry. And the first thing you'll say is, tell me about God in your life. You'll take the conversation to a little higher level.

That's encouraging to younger guys like me to see that. A couple of your fun hobbies real quick for folks that have never met you before. Jerry Smith, you like to be on that tractor, don't you? You like to work.

Tell a little bit about your work in the field. The Muscadine, you like to fool around with the Muscadine grapes. You've got a whole other thing. We're not even talking about that right now, but that you're connected with.

It's helped a lot of folks with their health. But talk about some of the hobbies you like to do. Yeah, my favorite people are my Trico, my Skidster and my Trico. How many times have I called you? Hey, Jerry, we've got to do an ad for the water in your life. I'm going to have to call you back, Stu. I'm on my tractor.

But you like going out there. A lot of farming in your background. A lot of hard work, right, Jerry?

A lot of hard work. Talk to young people about that, Jerry, about the importance of working. So many people are getting paid by our government to stay home. You go to a restaurant, you can't get service.

The poor restaurant folks, we need to pray for them. You know, I leave big tips to where I go now, but talk to especially young people about the importance of work ethic. Yeah, growing up, I really didn't like my mother and daddy a lot because they made me work all the time. I didn't know what they were doing at the time. But if they got you out picking up sticks, hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn, emptying the trash, you're using your brain. When you use your brain, that makes you smarter because if they tell you to pick up leaves, you're going to find an easier way to get those leaves up.

If they tell you to hoe the garden, you're going to find a better way, an easier way. That means you're using your brain. These kids today, they sit on the couch with a drink and a handheld iPhone and playing video games. Screen time. We've got screenagers now.

My nephew Wilson, who you met, he calls them screenagers. Isn't that something? So using your brain, applying yourself. And that's, you know, 41 years ago when you got in the water business.

I guess a lot of it's just you worked hard and you tried a lot of things and you wouldn't knock on a lot of doors. You went to the medical community, which I thought, you know, if you're going to start a bottled water company, go to the medical community. The doctors will tell you, won't they?

Yeah. Well, if you get a kidney infection or bladder infection or anything, it's so amazing about a doctor. You get an infection like that, well, you need to drink Pure H2O. But as soon as you get over it, you're back on regular tap water. Makes no sense. Or the sugar drinks or the, there's a lot of, the beverage industry is huge. There's a whole lot of things we put in our body that aren't helping the temple. Well, Jerry Smith, thank you for visiting with me.

Tell them about your testimony. Thank you for all you've done and for Le Bleu Ultra Pure Bottled Water. And I guess there's a website in there that we can go to to folks who want to learn more about if they want to be a licensee, if they want to find out how to get this stuff or where it's available. Lebleu.com. That's L-E-B-L-E-U dot com. Water is life. And thank you to Jerry Smith and the whole team for setting a godly example in business and their faith here at Le Bleu Ultra Pure Bottled Water. And it's fun on Truth Talk to showcase Christian businesses and to tell their story. And you might have learned a little something about nutrition, which is a lot of it's common sense isn't it, Jerry? Just common sense.