As for Me and My House, We Will Serve the Lord.

My grandfather's name was Service.

As a child, I didn't think much of it, but I've been thinking about it more recently, as "serve" is a word I've probably been avoiding if I'm honest.

I grew up in church. For most of my life, serving was simply what you did.

I was in the worship band. I led small groups as a teenager. I was usually one of the first to arrive on a Sunday and one of the last to leave. Coiling leads, stacking chairs. We had a great youth group so it was part of the community that we all got stuck in. It was great and I loved it.

I kept doing that through college, and the church where we were going sometimes had three services a day, so it was incredibly long days.

And then I got pretty tired. Somewhere along the way, all of it began to feel heavy, and I burned out. I think my back hurting also played into it, but Sundays began to feel like a lot of work so I took a break, which at the time was the right thing to do.

The trouble is that the break has now lasted years. These days, I have small children, and there is always a reason to keep saying no.

I tell myself I'm not exactly idle; this daily devotional is an act of service that takes up a lot of mental bandwidth and encouraging people from a distance still counts for something.

But deep down, I know it isn't the same as showing up in person, sleeves rolled up, doing the unglamorous, practical work of loving people face to face.

I love the verse in Joshua 24:15 where, standing in front of a whole nation, he said: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

He didn't say "we will serve when it's convenient." He didn't say, "We served back in our teens and early twenties, so we've done our part." He said it in the present tense, as a direction for his household and for the rest of the road ahead.

I love that he tied it to his house, because it turns the question back on me. I don't just want to serve. I want my kids to be people who serve.

I want them to be the ones who notice the thing that needs doing and offer before anyone asks.

But that isn't something I can teach them with words. Children learn it by watching the people they love.

So I'm asking myself a simple question this week, and maybe you could ask it too. What is one practical thing I could do to serve, in person, in my church, my street, or my community?

Not a grand commitment. Just one thing. A meal taken to a family with a new baby. An hour given to setting up or clearing away. Looking for new people at church on Sunday and making them feel welcome.

And if you're in a season where you can't, where you are the one being carried, or burntout, then please don't hear any guilt in this. We all need a break and to be the one who's served sometimes.

But serving might simply look like one text message to someone else in the storm, a few honest words of encouragement. Even that counts.