No, Never Alone

One letter after another came to Dave, and each of these simple but prolific communications rescued him from the horror of the war. Her descriptions of events and places, of family and friends would transport him out of the blood and mud of war to a place secluded from mortar rounds, sniper fire, and machine gun nests. There were no ambushes, hand grenades, or AK-47s in the places where Cheryl took Dave. Each letter helped him to reconnect with a brighter reality. “Thank God for those letters,” he thought to himself. The funny thing is that Cheryl felt inadequate as a writer, and felt that the words did not come easy. She saw herself as one who simply conveyed small talk to Dave, and fretted that she couldn't say something profound. Dave was good at “reading between the lines,” and would treat the letters with almost the same respect as his Bible. Dave read the Bible every day he was in Vietnam. His pastor from Second Baptist Church in Marion wrote an inscription in his Bible which read, "This book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book." Dave considered the Bible as God's love letter to him, and he read it faithfully wherever he went in country. He would receive an occasional letter from mom and dad, but their ministry to Dave was one of praying daily for their son's safe return. Dave's father was in World War II, and knew about the slippery slope on which Dave was traveling. It was Cheryl who stood front and center, and head and shoulders above everyone else who wrote to Dave. Her impact upon him was enormous as she saved his life by being his greatest friend. What is significant about this daily letter writing is that Dave was writing back as well. When Dave would write Cheryl, it was therapeutic for him to pen his thoughts to her. Every time Dave would write, he was clearing the trash out of his mind. Writing is like talking silently, and Dave was not a very good speaker as yet, but he was a better writer. Communicating with Cheryl via the letter developed skill in Dave to continue to write with clarity, wisdom, and passion. She later related to Dave that these letters reassured her heart of his deep love. Dave wrote details in his letters which he never shared with anyone in the world. He felt he could trust her with personal information which was “for her eyes only.” It is just as significant for a war-torn soldier to share a letter as it is to receive one. He was getting things off his chest to the only person he felt free to do so. Every combatant needs to debrief, and Cheryl was his confidant and counselor at the tender age of eighteen. “THE LETTERS” were their lifelines of information, inspiration, therapy, and yes, passion with a capital "P". It was not just the letter, which was significant, but the person who wrote the letter. Dave felt as though every time he opened up one of Cheryl's letters, he was really opening up her heart and mind, and peering in to understand and love the person he was going to marry. It is sufficient to say that without her letters, he would never have made it home. Thank heaven for heaven's letters, stamped by the sweet angel breath of his future bride. Cheryl was much more profound in her letter writing than she knew. Her personal piety and understanding of the scripture were elements that attracted Dave. In one letter, she asked Dave about the Song of Solomon in the Bible, and whether it was an allegory or simply a story of a Jewish king pursuing a young shepherd girl. At that time, Dave was not an old enough spiritually to have truly understood the question she had asked. The letter served the purpose of making Dave a deeper student of the Bible. He dug deeper into the Song of Solomon because of her interest in the scripture. In another letter, Cheryl shared that she was asked to teach at the church on Wednesday night. In smaller churches, in between pastors, the people took turns teaching the Word, and she was honored to be invited to practice her pedagogy on the local congregation. She shared all the scriptures with Dave that she used in teaching, and Dave wondered how many 18-year-old girls had ever stood before their churches and taught. She concluded one letter by revealing to Dave that she was called to be a pastor's wife. It was totally apparent to Dave that the girl of his dreams would be the godly woman who would stand with him through life's trials. In all of her letters, Cheryl was impeccable in her communication skills by telling the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. She recounted the events as they happened without the use of hyperbole. Her letters were not lengthy gossip columns filled with officious warnings and insignificant boring details. They were innocent accounts of a young Christian girl who was trying to cope with her future husband being in war. She was not frightened, but concerned. She was loving, but not sensual. She was not panicky, but trusting in God to bring her only love back home. The letters stabilized Dave spiritually and emotionally. If he had thought for one moment that she was falling apart, it would have been too much of a cross to bear. She was a pillar of strength to Dave as she represented normalcy rather than chaos. Cheryl was making deposits in their “trust fund” of mutual memories, and their pure love for God and each other were already paying unbelievable dividends which would last a lifetime. THE LETTERS were their joint currencies with which they made deposits into their growing trust fund of mutual commitment.