"But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me...." - II Timothy 3:10-11

In the book of Timothy, Paul is mentoring his apprentice Timothy. I can imagine that Timothy felt very blessed to have someone like Paul as his mentor. I look back on the many mentors in my life, both those that I acquired formally as well as informally, and I can say that they definitely had an impact on my life.

But I found it very interesting when Paul says that Timothy has "fully known" about Paul's life. As if to say, "you know good 'n well about what I been thru", or, "don't act like you don't know a brutha!". :-) But more importantly, BECAUSE Timothy knows about Paul - his life, his walk, his hardships - it's for that very reason that Paul's testimony and teaching in Timothy's life is so real! Paul brings up the fact that Timothy knows about his life in order to punctuate why Timothy should heed his words of advice.

What do people know about me? Is my testimony as effective as it could be if those that I talk to don't know about me, and where I've been, and what God's brought me thru?

But, I don't like folks in my biz-nazz, tho. :-) Nevertheless, when I read this I thought, perhaps it's a good idea to be more conscious of opportunities to "tell my story". Certainly, we should all be able to receive a word from someone about our situation, even if they haven't experienced it themselves. But how much more do we listen to someone when we know they've gone thru the same thing we're going thru!

Maybe I'll try to share a little more of my biz-nazz... not too much, just a little. Cuz they ain't ready for the WHOLE story!... ;-)