Northern Area
After-action Report

This year’s Memorial Day weekend camp in Dublin, New Hampshire, brought together six dads and eleven sons under the leadership of six Cadre members May 22-25.  Camp began with Advancing Jacob Ketola as a Cadet and Inducting Cadet Devon Lowman into the Leadership Training Corps.  

Our camp motto “No looking back!” reminded us that regret keeps us from capitalizing on what lies ahead.  God is the Redeemer, such that what appears to be a mistake can become the foundation for his glory manifested in our lives.  This is one of the themes that comes from the testimony of Mephibosheth.  Were it not for his lameness he may have never discovered the life that awaited him in the presence of King David.  He might have spent his life running and hiding from the new regime in order to stay alive, as he did not know of the covenant that David had made with Mephibosheth’s father Jonathan.    

II Chronicles 16:9a provided our theme verse: “For the eyes of the Lord behold all the earth, and give strength to those who with a perfect heart trust in him. (Douay-Rheims Bible)

In our company devotions, we answered three questions: Why do we want to know what a perfect heart is, what is a perfect heart, and how do we obtain a perfect heart?  

Embracing that God gives strength to those with a perfect heart, we spent considerable time looking at some of the many manifestations of strength.  We discovered that one of the meanings of the Hebrew word that is translated as “strength” is adoption, which is what God has done for us, such that we become his irreversible heirs of all his Kingdom.  

We more deeply grasped that a perfect heart means that there is no partial belonging to Jesus.  When I turn my heart to him, I obtain all of who he is.  I am no less his when I fail to yield to his leading.  We concluded that receiving a perfect heart is available to us simply by accepting God’s offer to come into his kingdom.  We have nothing to do with the offer.  It is ours because of the redemptive covenant made within the Godhead between the Father and the Son.  

We saw in the testimony of Mephibosheth the quality of humility: total dependency.  He was lame in both legs and needed mercy.  He wasn’t even in the position to claim the covenant made between his father and David, as he was unaware of what Jonathan had secured for him.  In the end we see that Mephibosheth wanted for nothing to be given to him by King David except to be in his daily presence (II Samuel 19:30).  

Wanting more than God himself is what gives our enemy leverage over us.  Had  Mephibosheth desired the half of his grandfather Saul’s estate still offered to him, he would have been forever entangled with Zeba, who was awarded the other half.  Herein we find the meaning of a perfect heart: the recognition that we cannot earn God’ favor and that we need nothing from him but our relationship with him.  

One of the actors in the testimony is Zeba, the servant of Saul who was given charge of the property that was returned to Mephibosheth by King David.  We learned that he deceptively kept Mephibosheth from leaving Jerusalem with the King when he was fleeing from Absalom, and then Zeba lied to the King about Mephibosheth’s reason for staying behind in the city.  We discovered that Zeba in the testimony portrays Satan, the Accuser of the Brethren and the Father of Lies.   

Our Friday service projects consisted of installing a shower, taping and mudding drywall, bucking logs, and splitting, transporting, and stacking firewood. It takes great teamwork to safely and efficiently move firewood from a pile on the ground to a neat stack in a shed or garage.

Saturday’s activities were a drilldown and a treasure hunt from clues discerned in Bible verses.  The father and son teams discovered the items much quicker that the Cadre anticipated, and the extra time was used for an extended fellowship around the evening cooking fires and a game of Ultimate Frisbee led by Sgt. Brandon Lowman.  

Brandon, whose bride Alivianna gave him two days to be with the guys, was our Drill Instructor who prepared the Company for the marvelous Parade on our final day together.  (Note that Alivianna did not let her husband get too far out of sight, as she volunteered with Sara and Becca Lowman to assist Louisa Lowman in the kitchen.)

The Parade is meant to be a celebration of what we accomplish together at camp with father and son connecting, fellowship with others, prayer, devotions, service, teamwork, orderliness, diligence, and fun.  Another celebratory aspect of camp is a disciplined Color Guard and robust singing at our Formations.  

Brandon also led one of our early-morning physical trainings, with LTC Andrew Hansen leading the other morning.  Andrew and LTC Devon Lowman were outstanding as Squad Leaders, doing a masterful job of keeping track of their squad members.  

The two squads competed in three events for the Saturday evening meal.  The first was a relay race to get the fire fuel (wood and paper) to the fire pits.  The second event was getting the fuel burning with a decent flame.  Finally, the two squads competed to deliver to yours truly the best hamburger.   The meal times, as well as the campfires and prayer groups, proved to be great opportunities for fellowship among old friends and new.  We are all about iron sharpening iron.  

Sergeants Eli and Jacob Lowman ably served as our Operations Chief and Logistics Chief, respectively.  Jacob also took the lead in developing the treasure hunt.  Captain Brian Bilodeau as Liaison was focused on spending time with the dads to encourage them.  

A staff member at Fairwood was moved by observing the older leadership physically embracing the younger sons during our final Review, a time used to verbally encourage each participant as much as inspect uniforms.  It was as this Review that Brandon Lowman was promoted to Sergeant First Class.    

Respectfully submitted, Lt. Col. Doug Dagarin, Camp Commander