There is a YouTube channel that I’ve been watching for some time now. It is a family man, Alex, in Alberta, Canada, a family man, who owns an antiques store. For Americans, he’s very Canadian (an inside joke, I suspect) but he’s a good guy and constantly busy doing ‘picks’ (looking for items for the antiques store) and or rebuilding old cars as well as typical husband/dad stuff. I enjoy his videos and I love antiques so it’s a good match.

I noticed a title to one of his videos, something along the lines of changing a person’s life for $20. I know my Bible pretty well after all these years and as many times as I’ve read it so I shied away from watching this video. (Matthew 6:4 ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.)

Today I was watching one his videos and it turned out to be the background story of the video I didn’t watch. Then it was all clear to me. This is how he meets Adam $3500 from a dumpster?! Amazing garbage find! the things people throw away… – YouTube.

After success, Alex searches for Adam Paying it forward, changing a homeless man’s life forever for just $20. – YouTube. This is the video I didn’t want to watch because of the title. I watched it today.

This video is the follow up to the first two From $20 in trash to a new life. One year later… Homeless no more! Part 4 – YouTube.

I am humbled by Alex’s good heart and ashamed at my own rigidity or self-righteousness. I judged a book by its cover or, more accurately, a video by it’s title, made assumptions that were wrong, and learned that if I really knew my Bible, or really knew Jesus, I would have been – should have been – intrigued by the title and the promise of how one might change another person’s life. A little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing and I am living proof.

Not everyone or everything is as they appear – there’s always a lot more to each story and I would do well to remember that, going forward. Perhaps this is also a reminder to all who may read this. That is my hope at least.

Oh! Now that you know Alex and Curiosity Incorporated, you may want to watch two series he has about buying a hoarded house – contents and house – called The Potter’s House and then one in which he bought the contents alone, called The Musician’s House. And as a special kick to your heart, watch the episodes in which he does a Go Fund Me for his sometime worker, Hans.