Support Texting no longer working

My texting just went dead, and I can't figure out how to get it back. I am using an original Droid bought new last May, running 2.2.1 that has never been rooted. The phone's memory is not running low.

Yesterday I was texting on the phone as usual. I put it down and walked away for a bit, came back, and there were two new messages. I opened up messaging, and all other messages were deleted besides these two. I had my previous messages saved with SMS Backup & Restore.

I used SMS Backup & Restore in order to retrieve the messages. It successfully backed up my lost messages. I could see the conversations they were all there. However, when I tried to enter a conversation the messaging app would either crash or cause the phone to entirely reboot.

I downloaded Handcent SMS and the results were the same. Either a program crash or the entire phone rebooting. The problem was not fixed with a battery pull, and all other functionality on the phone seems to be working fine.

Does anybody know what the potential problem is and what a potential fix is? Also, would Verizon service this is at a store free of charge or do you have to pay to get a phone checked out? I have no idea about the possible warranty situation.

Thanks a lot guys. tl;dr: messaging not working; halp