PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We honor their service to America and we pray their families will receive God's comfort.
ABERNETHY: It's a difficult time for the families and friends of those fighting in Iraq. Deryl Davis visited a Southern Baptist church outside Camp Lejeune, where members say faith is getting them through.DERYL DAVIS: Patriotism and faith go hand in hand in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where more than half the local population is in the military.
Many marines worship right outside the camp gates, at places like Enon Chapel Baptist Church.
The mood this Sunday is upbeat, but empty spaces in the pews tell another story -- husbands, wives, and brothers gone to war. Pastor Jim Kelley says there's an underlying tension in his congregation.
Reverend JIM KELLEY (Pastor, Enon Chapel Baptist Church): You can see it on the faces of wives, or our retirees who've been in combat. You see them together whispering and talking.
DAVIS: About 85 percent of Enon's members are active or retired military and their families. Each week the church remembers its own who have gone to fight.
Church members Dale and Linda Haley have seen marines come and go for 30 years.
LINDA HALEY (Member, Enon Chapel Baptist Church): You get so attached to them sometimes, when they go away it's like losing a part of your family.DAVIS: Retired Captain Dale Haley says it's never easy watching young men go to war.
Captain DALE HALEY (Retired, Marine Corps): We just have to allow them to go. It's God's will. He's going to take care of them, the way I look at it, just like we take care of them while they're here.
DAVIS: Andrea Wertz is one of those the church looks after. Her fiance is with the First Marine Division in Iraq.
ANDREA WERTZ (Member, Enon Chapel Baptist Church): The days that are really hard are the days when you hear, you know, Americans have been captured -- whereabouts unknown.DAVIS: Andrea says she needed help to get through the first difficult days of the war.
Ms. WERTZ: I was, like, "God, please just let me know something, anything. I don't care what it is -- a phone call, something on the TV that talks about his unit."
DAVIS: That something came in the form of an online news report quoting her fiance.
Ms. WERTZ: That wasn't anything I was expecting, that wasn't anything I was looking for, but it was God's way of saying, "Look, he's okay."
DAVIS: Like many at Enon Chapel, Andrea says the trials of war have strengthened her faith.
Capt. HALEY: You have a comfort you're going to come through this thing. But that's no guarantee, because God doesn't make any promises, but he just tells you he'll be with you, he'll protect you.
Captain DENNIS COBB Jr. (Marine Corps): I believe the Bible supports the defense of a nation, and I believe the Bible also supports the use of a nation's resources to defend those who can't defend themselves.
DAVIS: Dennis Cobb says he shares his faith whenever he answers questions about war and the necessity of killing.
DAVIS: Before the war is over, more names and more photos will almost certainly be added to Enon Chapel's prayer board. But Pastor Kelley hopes the wait will not be long for marines and their families. 
