Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we are in Moses chapter eight. Genesis chapter six through 11 this week in Come, Follow Me. I know you have a perfect story. I know you’re excited about it and I want to hear it.

John Bytheway:               00:21                   There’s a verse in Moses eight verse 27 talks about Noah. It says, He walked with God as also his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and just this imagery of walking with God. Life is hard, but boy, when somebody’s walking with you and Hank, I love this story because it has three things that make a story great. It has airplanes, courage and airplanes. Here’s what I love about this story. I met Colonel Gordon Weed, actually got to sit in his living room and talk with him and his wife. He was about my dad’s age, went to high school with my dad, but he didn’t know, and my dad was not a member. Gordon was, but he flew in World War II and later he flew in Vietnam. Your airplane lovers out there, look up an A37 Dragonfly. It’s a Cessna, but it’s side by side, and this thing is loaded for bear.

                                           01:14                   Well, he is in this jet. He’s got a wingman. He hears on the radio, sir, I’m on fire, and he looks over and the front of this jet is all flames. The other jet, it’s in flames. Gordon Weed has this incredibly powerful spiritual impression come over him that says, don’t let him eject. He’s calling to the other pilot saying, oh, wait a minute. He says, I’m saying things. I’m gonna get court martialed. Oh wait, you’re not smoking. And he said, what a stupid thing to say. You’re not smoking. That doesn’t make any sense. But he, he said, I knew I had to keep him in there. This wingman said, Roger that, sir, but it’s getting hot as heck in here. Check your bleed, air your bleed valve. He’s telling him all this stuff. He just knew he had to keep him in there. They could not figure out in these seconds.

                                           02:04                   This is happening really fast. Where would the flame be coming from the front, because the fuel tanks are in the wings. And anyway, a lot goes on in this. But finally, the flame goes out. He pulls alongside him. The guy’s complete windshield is frosted over with smoke, except this little part in the corner. He says, where can you see? I can see out the corner. I love how pilots do this with their hands. Gordon Weed flies and gets where he can see him and basically says, walk with me. Follow me. I’m gonna take you all the way down to the runway. Just watch me. He flies this guy down out of this one little thing he can see. Yeah, and there’s a picture of that spot. The only spot where he could see, so you just follow me, and he takes him all the way down to the runway where his wing man is able to land.

                                           02:59                   The end of the story that’s so interesting. Why couldn’t I let him eject? Well, as they determined later, had that canopy popped off as part of the ejection, all those flames would’ve gone right on the pilot for that second or half a second before his ejection chair fires and he shoots out of the jet. What they found out was in some jets, there’s this long tube that’s for refueling. Somehow, an anti-aircraft artillery had hit the refueling tube. That’s where the flames were coming from. He felt like the Spirit told him, don’t let him eject. It was over a bad place some enemy territory I think. I just love the fact he said, just follow me. I’m gonna take you all the way down to the runway.

Hank Smith:                      03:47                   John, there’s so many ways to apply this story. We turn to the Lord and say, it is getting bad in here. And the Lord saying, stay with me. Stay with me. Okay, now I’m gonna come where you can see me. Focus on me. Focus on me. I’ll take you all the way home. Take you all the way home. Just focus right on me. I know you can’t see anything else. I know you’re scared. It has airplanes, courage. And airplanes.

John Bytheway:               04:11                   And airplanes.

Hank Smith:                      04:13                   That’s beautiful. John, if I remember right, you wrote two books about these kind of stories, these airplanes and these Latter-day Saint pilots. They’re called Supersonic Saints. This is in the second one.

John Bytheway:               04:24                   Yeah. I loved it so much. It’s the first chapter in the second one, and I didn’t write these. I just compiled them. These awesome, courageous, faithful pilots wrote them, but they’re like heroes of mine. Don’t you love this story? Stay with me. I’m taking you home.

Hank Smith:                      04:39                   That’s beautiful. Supersonic Saints 2. I think I have my copy. I’m gonna go look at it again. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast, we’re with Dr. Mike Cottle this week. This for me was a life changing episode. They all are, but Mike and I go way back. He’s a close friend of mine and what he does with the story of Noah, honestly John, changed it forever for me.

John Bytheway:               05:06                   Absolutely.

Hank Smith:                      05:07                   We hope you’ll join us there and then come back next week, we’ll do another followHIM Favorites.