First Loser

The annual Providence MANday Night Chili Cookoff has happened. We had about 40 contestants, and about 160 chili eaters (although the only ones that matter are the four judges). My chili was voted second place (first loser). But several dudes have asked me for the recipe, so here it is:

Chad's 2017 "Dark Horse, Runner-Up Chili"
(A "dark horse" is an unlikely winner. There's no horse meat in this chili. I really just wanted a title with the word "dark" in it because of my chili's color.)

• 6.3 lbs ground beef (Have the butcher grind the meat twice, preferably through the "fine" plate. In chili, I like the ground beef small rather than in big chunks.)
• 1 lb. Johnsonville ground Italian sausage (I work hard to get this small too)
• 1/2 tsp tiger seasoning
• 3 jars Tobasco chili starter (2 original medium, 1 spicy)
• 1 can Bush’s black beans
• 1 can red beans
• 2 cans Hanover dark red kidney beans
• 1 can Rotel (with fire-roasted tomatoes)
• 2 cubes Dorot (Trader Joe's) fresh-frozen crushed garlic
• 1 red onion diced
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sherry cooking wine
• 4 heaping tbls light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup
• 1 tbls Texas Pete hot sauce
• 3 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp fresh coarse-ground black pepper
• a healthy dash cumin
• 3 tbls chili powder
• 2 tbls Sriracha hot sauce
• 2 bayleaves

• 10 green Serrano peppers, de-seeded and diced (use rubber gloves)


• 4 red sweet "Capperino" or "Cherry Hot" peppers (they're round, bright red, and about the size of a pingpong ball to a racquet ball) de-seeded and diced.

Season with Tiger Seasoning and brown the ground beef & sausage and drain the fat. While browning, I mix with a potato smasher to keep the meat from being chunky. Add all other ingredients (except the peppers and onion). Then dice the onion, and de-seed and dice the peppers. Sauté them in extra virgin olive oil (see picture) until slightly browned/blackened. Add to the rest of the chili.

Add water as needed, bring to a boil, then turn low and simmer for 5 hours (it’s good after just two hours, but if you can simmer longer, it’s worth the time!).

My chili is meaty, sweet, has a little kick, and is full of flavor! Mmmm. I want some now! 

The MANday Night Chili Cookoff is so much fun. It's how we begin each year with a bang. The guys participate in good-humored trash talk and someone goes home with the prize—several coupons for area restaurants, and the coveted trophy (made mostly of car parts). It's so awesome.

Here's this year's winner, Greg Ogle (left), who is now Providence royalty! Congrats! There were many great contestants this year, as always. Some of the guys go to incredible lengths to make grow their peppers, smoke their meat (meats of all kinds, by the way), and cook culinary masterpieces. I think I just got lucky this year!

Can't Quit Daydreaming...

Benny and I behind the Jeep CJ9 with the real heroes of the
hunt, the dogs!

I used to have a lot of hobbies. Fishing (bass, trout, crappie, catfish, and others—all different), hunting (squirrel, rabbit, turkey, dove, boar, quail, pheasant, grouse, crow, raccoon, chukar, duck, goose, and deer—with bow, muzzleloader, shotgun, and rifle!), hiking & backpacking, golf, canoeing, working on cars, road biking, mountain biking, painting, playing guitar, gardening, horses, dogs (training & breeding), woodworking, four wheeling, working out, reading, caving, traveling, skiing, basketball, football, softball, weight lifting, swimming, running, and more! Whew! What a list!

But as we grow older career and family take precedent, and life's priorities and budgets force us to narrow our list of hobbies. I used to have the equipment for ALL the above pursuits (some is packed away and forgotten in the attic)!

Some, however, are still pastimes that I still enjoy (even if I have less time for them than I once did) and I try to discuss them on this blog. One of my favorite things in the world to do is quail hunt. I don't own a pointer/brittany/springer/setter, and I certainly don't have any hunting land. But every once in a while, God graciously provides for me to do what I have no budget to do and experience a day or so in the field.

The cabin in which we stayed. Belle prancing in the front.

A few weeks ago, my good buddy Benny invited me to come with him and a friend and go quail hunting at a hunting preserve in south Georgia, called Wynfield Plantation.   It. was. awesome.  We had a great time talking on the way down and back, but the hunting experience is hard for me to explain, except except to say that I felt like a rich dude. The place is so nice. And they totally serve you hand and foot. Wow!

They provide the dogs, guide, Jeeps, and food (prepared by a chef) and everything else. All you have to bring is proper clothing and your gun. And that's where I probably should be embarrassed. I have a Remington 1100 that I got for Christmas when I was in 8th grade. But I love it and I proudly walk in the field with it like Happy Gilmore walks on the golf course with his hockey stick (not that I'm as good!). Perhaps it's a little out-of-style, but it does the job. Most of the hunters (at this place, anyway) have fancy over-and-under style Brownings and Benellis.

Truth is, I'm still pinching myself. The trip seemed (and seems) like some kind of dream. We shot a lot of birds. The folks at the plantation cleaned the birds for us, froze them, and gave them to us in little coolers to take home. Amazing.

Here's Benny on the right and the little English Cocker right
behind her master, our guide. An awesome little dog.

My favorite thing about it is watching the dogs hunt. Benny had his old faithful bird dog, Belle. I was privileged to be along for what might have been her last hunt. She did great. One of the coolest dogs I've seen is the English Cocker, a shorter dog that stayed at "heel" with the guide until the pointers were on point on some birds, at which time the guide would send in. The Cocker would flush the cubby (meaning, the hiding group of quail would fly up in the air), and then it would retrieve the dead birds that we shot back to the guide. Remarkable.

Below is a very quick video of me shooting a quail (it took two shots). The dogs really do all the work. I'm just so happy I got to go along.

Good times. Many thanks to Benny for letting me tag along and for the good conversations we had. Now I've got to pinch myself and quit daydreaming about it!

Friendship that is Through the Roof

Dara and Jaclyn a couple of years ago.
These two have been friends from birth.
I know of no sisters that are closer, and
their friendship makes them both better.

Good friends. We all want them. They’re usually not found on Facebook or on other online “communities,” by the way. Real friends share the good times and make memories. They are the ones before whom you can take off the mask and open up your heart and say what you really think without being misunderstood or judged. Friends make you better. When you need to be shown a blind-spot in your life, a friend points it out. But the hard times are when true friends are really revealed, and it’s when you need them most. If you’ve ever experienced desperation, you know this is true.

Desperation is not a fun place to be. You can drift in one of two directions: despair or determination. A good friend will not let desperation turn into despair, but will help you turn desperation into determination. A great friend will sacrifice and show determination on your behalf when you’re desperate. 

There’s an example of some great friends in the fifth chapter of Luke who by faith meet desperation with determination. And we’re going to see them all meet a friend who’s the greatest friend.

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. (Luke 5:17)

Most likely, these important men were coming from all over Israel to see Jesus for themselves and report back to other religious authorities who sent them. Luke has previously told us that news about Jesus had spread all over the land. And remember, Jesus had just sent the leper to go to the temple to show himself as genuinely healed to the priests. By sending him, Jesus essentially served notice to them that he was indeed the legitimate Messiah. Know this: these representatives were the serious, conservative, religious “defenders of orthodoxy” of their day. 

And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. (Luke 5:17b-19)

This needs some explanation. Jesus is obviously teaching in a nice house of someone wealthy. It’s big enough to accommodate a crowd, it’s filled with dignitaries from all over Israel, and it has a roof with “tiles” (Luke's is the only gospel to give us this detail). There were not many tiled roofs in Israel (most consisted of beams and sticks covered with thatch and mud). But the tile-roofed homes were nicer, more water proof, more substantial, and could serve as a mezzanine floor or deck. To break through  these tiles was a job (and wasn’t appreciated by the owner!). 

Imagine being there in the house when this happened. What’s your reaction if you’re an important religious leader, finally meeting with this young, popular, talented spiritual leader, and you hear knocking and chipping on the roof? What are you thinking when dust begins to fall and beams of light crack through and more dirt—getting all over you, Jesus, the furniture, & food? This hole was made bigger, then these rubes began putting something through the hole! Then you see that it’s a person on a stretcher. And these rednecks are lowering him down with ropes! 

How do you react at this point? I’m pretty mad. This isn’t just a distraction—it’s an intrusion! Someone could have gotten hurt by this stunt—the man who’s already paralyzed or one of the ones below! They’ve destroyed property & made a mess! What are these guys thinking!?

I’ll tell you what they were thinking: they love their friend who is in a desperate state of existence. 

Now, let's put ourselves in the shoes of the guys on the roof. Rewind the tape: How in the world did they come to conceive of this audacious idea to lower a man through a roof? Here’s my possible scenario: 

One of these guys heard from someone about this man named Jesus—maybe about how he’d been healing people or the miraculous catch of fish or how demon-possessed people had been freed, or perhaps how the leper had been cleansed. When he heard about Jesus, he immediately thought about his poor, paralyzed friend. Maybe he had been with him when his friend had the accident: when he fell off the wall, or was run over by an ox, or dove into the shallow creek, or got kicked by a horse. It was a wonder he lived, but he was unable to move from the neck down. He would require extensive help for the rest of his life. There were no wheelchairs or pain killers or Physical Therapists. His boyhood friends watched him shrivel up and waste away. Fun and laughter subsided as cold reality set in. Hopes for career and family died. Gone. It was heartbreaking. 

I know a little of what a friend feels like when a tragedy like this occurs. My high school friend Doug was an incredible athlete and popular and cool. We were both competing for the same position in football, then over a break, he had an accident and was paralyzed. Believe me, that’s not how you want to win a position. We were all shocked. Being paralyzed was no longer far away to me. When he finally came back to school, he was confined to a wheelchair. It was heartbreaking and awkward. What should I say? Of course he wasn’t all about sports and girls as before. But he wasn’t sad and dejected either. Amazingly, Doug had joy. Doug had trusted Jesus.

Back to my scenario: so one friend, upon hearing about Jesus, must have talked to the other friends of this poor man. They all decided: “Let’s carry him to Jesus.” So they made a stretcher and together told their friend of their plan. His reaction must have been affirmative. After the long walk to Capernaum, their muscles were aching but spirits still high, they encountered a problem: There was a huge crowd packed around the house. One friend said, “Lets go to the roof.” Without hesitation they mustered their energy and climbed the back steps. One started tearing up the tiles while another tied some rope to the four corners of the stretcher. I have to think the paralyzed man whispered a sincere “thank you” to his friends for their great effort on his behalf that day as they lowered him through the hole. 

But what would Jesus do? The men weren’t really thinking about that. They only wanted to get their friend before him—he’s his only chance. When their friend touched the ground, they peered through the hole and saw the room of dignitaries looking at them in disgust, and Jesus…who smiled.

 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20)

Jesus saw more than a paralytic. He saw a man and his friends who believed. Just like the leper, these guys made a bold move to get to the one who they knew could do something. And he gave the man a gift: he forgave his sins. 

Wait, what? I’ll bet no one was expecting that! 

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21) 

Already there's a big contrast: On one hand there's a paralytic and his friends who believed Jesus could heal and went to great lengths to act on that belief. On the other hand there's a bunch of self-important religious types who objected to Jesus' words of forgiveness as blasphemy. 

The men on the roof think Jesus is big. The men in the house think Jesus is small. 

Those in the house don’t even consider he might be God! He can’t be! It doesn’t even cross their minds. Don't think Jesus didn’t create this tension on purpose. He absolutely did. Look:

When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? (Luke 5:22-23)

Here he gets to the crux of the issue. They don’t like that he said, “your sins are forgiven.” It doesn’t even occur to them that he can. Oh, their theology is good. They know only God can forgive sin and not a mere man. They're asking, "Who does he think he is?"

Jesus asks them in effect, “What, you don’t think I’m God?” He just proclaimed forgiveness—which they can’t verify with their eyes. So he asks in effect, "What if I proclaim healing—which can be verified? Would you believe I’m God, then?"

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. (Luke 5:24-25)

This is the big deal: Jesus gives them undeniable proof that he has the power to make the paralytic walk—something only God can do—in order to show them something bigger: that he also has the power to forgive sin. 

You see, everyone else in the house could walk, so they didn’t need physical healing. But they all were sinners who desperately need forgiveness, i.e., spiritual healing. Truth is, their paralysis was far worse—with far greater consequences. But they were not desperate. Because they were blind. They missed the point and Jesus’ implied offer.

 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.” (Luke 5:26)

Of course they had! But did they see what God wanted them to see that day? Did you? Here are four lessons:

• Jesus is the Messiah predicted by the OT. 

He is the Son of Man (a messianic term in the Old Testament), and he is God in the flesh. He claimed to be and proved he was. Luke wants us to see this again!!

• Faith is revealed by determined action. 

Faith here is not seen as agreement with truth about Jesus’ identity. It is the determination to allow nothing (crowds, roof, reputation) to prevent access to Jesus. Hear me: While the Bible doesn’t teach a works-based faith, it does teach a faith that works. You can tell one’s faith through one’s actions. In fact, if a person does not have a changed lifestyle, they have not experienced saving faith. Faith without works is dead faith (James 2:17). Jesus said that you can tell a tree by its fruit. I could quote many more examples.

• Friends will do anything for a friend. 

These guys' love is through the roof! Do you have friends like these guys? More: Are you this kind of friend? To have friends you must be one. I’d say the former paralytic was eternally grateful to these guys. Have you ever seen the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life”? Do you remember what the angel Clarence said? He was right.

Friends are good.

Friends who help you turn desperation into determination are really good.

Friends who will sacrifice and show determination on your behalf when you’re desperate are great.

But even greater is a friend who will do all that to bring you to Jesus. 

• Receiving forgiveness is bigger than receiving healing. 

God is the only one who can forgive sin, because all sin is ultimately committed against him. He forgives through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus is a better friend than even this guy’s faithful friends. Why? because he knew sin was worse than paralysis, and he went even further: he secured this man’s forgiveness himself. He died in his place. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” If you believe, that’s the kind of friend he is for you. What’s more? He died for us while we were his enemies. Romans 5:6-8 says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

I think it is safe to say Christ’s love and friendship is through the roof!

Laurel-Snow Falls and Friends

Went on a little hike today with some of our favorite folks. The Zelem family is in the same season-of-life that we are, and with all the kids still home for the holidays, we finally got to get together to go do something fun.

This is EZ (my affectionate nickname for Evan Zelem) making rock climbing
look easy (pun intended) as he does most everything it seems.

We met to eat at a restaurant in Dayton, TN, and drove the short trip to Laurel-Snow Falls Pocket Wilderness.


Darla and I have done this hike before. It was a couple of summers ago. It began nice; families swimming in the creek, the path was wide, the sky was blue. We started in shorts and Chacos. Then the wind blew and the sky quickly grew black with clouds. Thunder. Pouring rain. Darla was all about trudging through, so we did. And what a reward! The falls are just awesome. We returned covered in mud and soaked to the bone.

Today's hike was different. Beautiful weather, albeit a little on the nippy side. We followed the trail to Laurel Falls which is rocky and muddy in places. It's an interesting hike with big rock formations, caves, and the remains of a coal mine and coke production from over a century ago. This has left "coked" coal cinders and pig iron remains lying around. There are also some great old stone walls and pylons. It seems there was a old water reservoir here and the old pipe remains prove it. There's even an old coke oven or mine entrance that you can walk in and see for yourself. All this historical stuff is great. Combined with the larger-than-your-house-sized boulders that are ubiquitous on this trail makes you feel at times you feel like you're in a scene in a Lord of the Rings movie. There's lots to see and do, and the first mile or so of the hike is very easy.


On down you must either cross a ravine with the creek (difficult on this day because of the amount of water) or take the mangled foot bridge that has been hit by a falling tree (probably not safe to cross, but we did anyway!).

After the bridge, the trail gets a little hard to follow. You can wind around all kinds of obstacles and there really aren't good trail markings. But with our faithful Beagle and trusty Labrador (actually, they were useless. It was Darla who kept us going in the right direction!) we were able to navigate through holes, up hills, and over boulders to stay on the trail.

Truly, this is a hike you should give yourself more time to enjoy. Our kids were constantly tempted to explore caves, streams, rocks, and spur trails. Everywhere you look there are opportunities for discovery. I only wish we would have had more daylight for exploring more–especially the higher overviews that we didn't have time for.



You know, every trail has this effect on me, but this one especially does: I can't help but ponder God's creative genius. From the many different types of features and formations to the plant variety to the way human activity (destruction? progress?) once abandoned is so quickly absorbed and even turned into something more beautiful! It's pretty amazing, really.


Then...the reward! And picture time!

 This waterfall is pretty impressive. Of course pictures never do things justice, but you can see Drew in the red on the left at the base of the cliff (little red speck about 1/3 up from the bottom of the picture) to get a feel for how huge it really is. What's not visible is the cascade that continues on down the stream bed. I bet it is pretty awesome after a week of sub-freezing weather. Note to self: come back later this winter.


Here's the compulsory family picture! I've got to say, I love these folks! Of course my family, but I'm speaking of the Zelems. This is a family that is humbly committed to Christ. For me they are the kind of people that remind me that there really are those who will do the right thing no matter what trials or setbacks come. I can't say enough good about them. I only wish we could spend more time together.

After the hike we were hungry again! The little place we went for lunch was good, but it wasn't filling. It's time for Cracker Barrel! That's a regular post-adventure place for the Sparks clan to eat, and all seemed to like the idea (after some discussion about going to Waffle House waned). Yes, Cracker Barrel had the huge fireplace blazing, and we got the big table right in front of it! Perfect!