Faith Will Help
Chaplain Herb Van Meter wrote many letters to the families of fallen heroes and with great effort did his best to personalize each one. In April 1945 he wrote to the family of James Emory, a Marine killed on Iwo Jima.
As we left Iwo Jima you would know how hard it was to leave behind those who fought beside me. As the transport left the anchorage the troops stood silently, reverently at attention in their honor. Eyes were fixed on the flag flying in the Division cemetery over their graves. It was a holy moment. Words cannot express the thoughts that rise in a man’s heart at such a time. There were men thinking of James as there were men whose thoughts were with those who lie beside him under those white crosses. There were prayers and there were tears. We will not forget.
Time alone will heal the pain of separation from your son. Pride will help you face it now: pride in one who gave his life to his nation, pride in having given a gift so great. Faith will help: faith in those great causes for which Jim risked and gave his life, faith in the dedication of our people and nation to those causes. And most of all there is faith in Almighty God to help you, faith in Him who gives us life and in whose providence it is taken from us. God grant you that faith.518
It is one thing to believe that God is sovereign in the giving and taking of life when all our loved ones remain with us. To cling to that knowledge when a son has died, however especially in the brutal circumstances of war is taking that faith to an entirely new level. My own faith has not been tested in this way, and I pray that yours has not either. But to help safeguard our faith before it is even placed in the refiner’s fire, we would benefit from remembering to place our faith in the unchanging person of God and his son, Jesus Christ, rather than measuring our faith by our circumstances. (JG)
I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
—Isaiah 45:6 7