Chili, friends, chili, hay rides, and more chili

David tries out the tractor

This past Saturday one of the families in our church had a get-together at their home. This is an annual event that our family really enjoys. The hosts' home is in a rural area in Rustburg, Virginia. They own about 80 acres and have a tractor and hay wagon that they put to good use during these events.

A bowl of my chili [recipe]

One of the things we really enjoy about our church is that people of all ages love to fellowship with each other. At this event, there are people from every age except for the very elderly. And its fun to see the interaction between the various ages.

The property is huge and there is a large field in front of the house that is perfect for the annual touch-football game. There is a large rope swing hanging from a tall tree limb and a great log cabin clubhouse that the younger kids like to play in.

But one of my favorite things is the chili. Everyone brings their favorite chili recipe to share with those who are there. So when it is time to eat, the folks go through the myriad pots of chili and get a little of each. Then, once they have devoured that chili, they go back for more. It's a lot of fun to experience what each different cook thinks is important in their own chili. And they're all great! Of course, it's hard to go wrong with chili.

After the food has been attacked, anyone interested can pile onto the hay wagon for a hayride around the property. And then they build a huge bonfire to finish off the evening.

And since our church is just a few miles from the largest Christian university in the nation (Liberty University), we have quite a few college students who come to this event each year. Every once in a while, one of their parents is visiting and gets to come to this event with their college student. The picture below is of a wonderful young man, Ryan, and his mother on the hay wagon. I imagine that seeing the love of the people in the church that your college-age child is attending would be tremendously comforting. And it's a great opportunity for us older folks to get to know our college students a little better by meeting their parents.

It's loads of fun and I'm grateful to God that he has blessed our church with people who enjoy getting together with each other. It's the way church people should be.