I am truly a guy who has a great deal to be thankful for. God has blessed me beyond measure. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife that I love and I get to spend my life telling people about Jesus.
Another tremendous blessing in my life is my family. Today is my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!
Not a day goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for the gift of my family. I am the youngest of 5 children. My parents were in their early 40’s when I was born. My next oldest sibling, my sister Kim is 6 years older than me and there are 19 years between my oldest brother and me. The line-up starting with the oldest goes Bob (a Worship Pastor), Mike (a Concrete Contractor), Mark (a Senior Pastor), Kim (a lawyer and full-time mom) and me. As the story goes, my parents went on a trip to the Holy Land with their church. When they came home, they were expecting yours truly. Apparently the Holy Land is very inspiring! 
I will always be grateful for a life lesson that I learned from my parents. They taught me to love the Lord and to serve Him with my life. They also taught me the value of hard work. My parents are both in their late 70’s and still work every day (Dad is a concrete contractor and Mom is a Target cashier and the world champion at getting people to sign-up for Target credit cards!).
When I got into high school and began to date my dad began to say something to me before I left the house. I can still remember the exact moment that I heard it for the first time, just like it was yesterday. He called me “B” and I remember him sitting in his chair and saying, “B…..remember who you are tonight.”
I remember thinking about that as I drove out of the driveway to pick up my date. “…remember who you are…” I always assumed he meant to remember that I was a Tabor and not to do anything stupid while I was out. I assumed it meant to remember to wear my seat belt and to remember to open the door for my date.
The older I get, the more that encouraging word means to me. Remember who you are. Remember that you are my son….remember all the things we’ve tried to teach you….remember that many sacrifices were made to raise you the right way and to provide for you. Remember that you are a Child of the King and that the God of the universe rejoices over you!
I can tell you, Mom & Dad, that I’ve never forgotten that. In truth, I’m still working on it and adding to my answer as the years roll by. Thank you for taking time to teach me, even when you assumed I wasn’t listening. I watched and I listened much more closely that you probably realize and am grateful for every single life lesson!
