Faith at Full Throttle • followHIM Favorites • Feb. 9-15 • Come Follow Me

Summary

Podcast Summary: Faith at Full Throttle • followHIM Favorites (Feb. 9-15)

Podcast: followHIM
Hosts: Hank Smith & John Bytheway
Episode Date: February 5, 2026
Come Follow Me Study: Moses 8; Genesis 6–11

Overview

This episode of "followHIM Favorites" centers around building and maintaining faith during life's trials, using the biblical story of Noah as a launchpad. John Bytheway shares a gripping, faith-filled story from WWII and Vietnam veteran Colonel Gordon Weed, drawing parallels to the spiritual principle of "walking with God" even in adversity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Theme Connection: "Walking with God"

• Scripture Reference: Moses 8:27 – "Noah walked with God, as also his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
• John highlights the power of companionship—both human and divine—on the path of discipleship.

2. The Story of Colonel Gordon Weed (00:30–04:11)

• John recounts a real-life incident involving Colonel Gordon Weed, a Latter-day Saint pilot who served in WWII and Vietnam.
• Weed and his wingman flew A-37 Dragonfly jets during combat. Weed’s wingman’s plane caught fire mid-air.
• Despite protocol suggesting immediate ejection, Weed received a powerful spiritual impression: "Don’t let him eject."
• Weed remained by his wingman’s side, communicating and improvising—telling him to check technical systems, buying crucial seconds.
• The wingman’s vision was nearly obscured by smoke, with only a small portion of his windshield clear.
• Quote:
  "I just knew I had to keep him in there. They could not figure out in these seconds...where the flame would be coming from." (John, 01:58)
• Weed instructed: "Walk with me, follow me. I’m going to take you all the way down to the runway. Just watch me." (John, 02:38)
• The wingman managed to land safely by focusing on the visible sliver and trusting Weed.

3. Application to Spiritual Life (03:47–04:11)

• The hosts draw direct parallels to faith:
  • Sometimes, like the pilot, we are surrounded by fear, confusion, or spiritual "smoke."
  • The Lord invites us: "Focus on me. I'll take you all the way home." (Mike, 04:00)
• Memorable Moment:
  "We turn to the Lord and say, it is getting bad in here. And the Lord’s saying, stay with me. Stay with me. Okay, now I’m going to come where you can see me." (Mike, 03:47)

4. Acknowledging Faith, Courage, and Leadership

• John references his compilation work in the book Supersonic Saints 2, filled with stories of faithful LDS pilots.
• Quote:
  "I didn’t write these, I just compiled them. These awesome, courageous, faithful pilots wrote them. But they’re like heroes of mine." (John, 04:24)

5. Invitation to Listen to the Full Episode (04:39–05:07)

• The week’s main episode features Dr. Mike Cottle and an in-depth discussion about the Noah narrative.
• Both hosts express gratitude and personal impact by the story.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------------------------------------------------| | 01:58 | John | "I just knew I had to keep him in there. They could not figure out in these seconds...where the flame would be coming from." | | 02:38 | John | "Walk with me, follow me. I’m going to take you all the way down to the runway. Just watch me." | | 03:47 | Mike | "We turn to the Lord and say, it is getting bad in here. And the Lord’s saying, stay with me. Stay with me. Okay, now I’m going to come where you can see me." | | 04:00 | Mike | "Focus on me. I'll take you all the way home." | | 04:24 | John | "I didn’t write these, I just compiled them. These awesome, courageous, faithful pilots wrote them. But they’re like heroes of mine." |

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Episode Structure & Flow

• [00:00–00:21] Introduction; setting up the topic for the week (Moses 8; Genesis 6–11).
• [00:21–03:47] John’s story of Colonel Weed; detailed account of the incident in the air.
• [03:47–04:12] Application: Relating the story to spiritual faith, endurance, focusing on Jesus Christ.
• [04:12–05:07] Book reference ("Supersonic Saints 2"), main podcast invitation, brief mention of Dr. Mike Cottle.

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Final Takeaways

• The story of Colonel Weed illustrates how promptings, faith, and companionship—both divine and mortal—can guide us through peril when things seem darkest.
• The Lord’s message to all: Focus on Him, even if all you have is a tiny, clear corner through the smoke—He will lead you home.
• Stories of courage and spiritual listening inspire faith to "walk with God" at full throttle, just as Noah did.

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If you’re seeking actionable inspiration for your Come, Follow Me study or just need an uplifting reminder to trust the Lord’s guidance, this episode delivers in classic followHIM style—warm, personal, and filled with everyday applications.

Transcript

[John]

Foreign.

[Mike]

To follow him Favorites this is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, we are in Moses chapter 8, Genesis chapters 6 through 11 this weekend. Come follow me. I know you have a perfect story. I know you're excited about it, and I want to hear it.

[John]

There's a verse in Moses 8. 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, okay, 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. 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 going to get court martialed. 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 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. 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 going to take you all the way down to the Runway. Just watch me. He flies this guy down out of.

[Mike]

This one little thing he can see. Yeah.

[John]

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 wingman is able to land. 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 have 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 am going to take you all the way down to the Runway.

[Mike]

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's saying, stay with me. Stay with me. Okay, now I'm going to come where.

[John]

You can see me.

[Mike]

Focus on me. Focus on me. I'll take you all the way home.

[John]

Take you all the way home.

[Mike]

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]

And airplanes.

[Mike]

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]

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.

[Mike]

That's beautiful. Supersonic saints 2. I think I have my copy. I'm going to go look at it again. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. 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]

Absolutely.

[Mike]

We hope you'll join us there and then come back next week. We'll do another follow him favorites.