June 10, 2024

One of the benefits of the training here at ALERT is that some of the best life-giving habits for young men are put on "automation" during their time here; habits like waking up early, engaging in workouts, immersing themselves in God's word, journaling, forming meaningful relationships, and getting real-time feedback from your peers. We know that time spent training here at ALERT is not "real life," as it were, but we also know that people do not build their futures; they develop their habits, and those habits, in turn, build their futures.

What will make a difference in our students' lives once they leave? Not the PTs they did six months ago, not the Bible reading they did two years ago, but the discipline they learned along the way. Discipline is what will carry the day long after the men have left the program—discipline to set up their own habits, rituals, and systems, steering their lives rather than merely letting life happen to them. Or, as Eugene Peterson calls it, "a long obedience in the same direction." This is why we believe that discipline strengthens a man.