Deacon Jude Tam Tran

ALL CHILIES ARE SPICY

“The first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.” — Proverbs 18:17
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” — James 1:5

There was once a man named Daniel who had way too much free time.

Not “read a book and improve yourself” free time.

No. This was the dangerous kind of free time where a grown man stands beside a chili vendor’s cart just to watch strangers buy peppers like it’s a live episode of National Geographic.

One hot afternoon, Daniel wandered through the market and spotted an older woman selling chilies under a faded umbrella that looked like it had survived three wars, two typhoons, and at least one angry husband.

Her cart was piled high with chilies of every shape and color imaginable.

Some were dark red.
Some were pale green.
Some were long.
Some were short.
Some looked like they had personally defeated entire families at dinner tables.

Daniel leaned against the cart like a self-appointed “consultant.”

Business was slow.

So naturally, he decided it was time to share his wisdom.
“You know,” he said with the confidence of a man who had never sold a single chili in his life, “you should separate the spicy chilies from the non-spicy ones. Make two piles. Simple marketing.”

The old woman smiled politely.

The kind of smile older people give when they don’t want to say:
“Son, I was surviving life while you were still eating crayons.”

She softly replied,
“No need.”

Daniel almost laughed.
“No need?” he thought.
“What kind of business strategy is that?”

A few moments later, a customer walked up.

Right on cue, the woman asked the question every chili buyer asks:

“Are these spicy?”

The vendor didn’t even blink.

She pointed calmly and said,
“The darker chilies are spicy. The lighter ones are not.”

The customer nodded seriously, as if receiving classified government information.
“Ohhhh… darker means spicy.”

Then the customer carefully picked through the pile like a scientist conducting laboratory research.

Five minutes later?

Most of the dark-colored chilies were gone.

Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Well… lucky guess,” he thought.

Soon another customer arrived.

Again:
“Are your chilies spicy?”

Now Daniel leaned in closer.

This was the moment.
The old woman was trapped.
The lighter chilies were still sitting there from the previous “scientific classification.”

But without hesitation, she said:
“The long chilies are spicy. The short ones aren’t.”

Daniel nearly choked.
“Wait… what happened to the color system?!”

But the customer didn’t care.

Immediately, the buyer began sorting chilies by length like they were choosing Olympic athletes.

Long chilies disappeared quickly.

Now only short, dark-colored chilies remained.

Daniel folded his arms smugly.
“Aha. Let’s see how she escapes THIS one.”

Surely now the woman would run out of categories.

But another customer came.

Again:
“Are these spicy?”

The old woman glanced at the remaining chilies and answered smoothly:
“Hard skin means spicy. Soft skin means mild.”

Daniel stared in disbelief.

And honestly?
It’s kind of made sense.

After sitting in the blazing sun all afternoon, some chilies had become soft and wrinkled from dehydration.

The customer nodded like they had just attended a TED Talk on pepper science.

Soon every last chili was sold.

Gone.

Finished.

The old woman wiped her hands, counted her money, and smiled peacefully.

Meanwhile Daniel stood there questioning everything he thought he knew about business, psychology, and apparently vegetables.

Finally, he asked,
“Ma’am… were any of those chilies actually less spicy than the others?”

The old woman laughed.
“Son, all chilies are spicy.”

That sentence hit Daniel harder than the first bite of a ghost pepper.

Because suddenly he realized:

The woman wasn’t selling chilies.
She was selling confidence.
She understood something most people don’t:

People don’t just buy products.
They buy certainty.
They buy stories.
They buy reassurance.

And honestly, modern life works exactly the same way.

Walk into a supermarket and suddenly water has “mountain essence.”

Coffee beans have “notes of chocolate, citrus, and emotional healing.”

Soap promises to change your life spiritually.

Half the time we’re paying extra because someone added the word “premium” to the label.

A plain chicken sandwich becomes:
“Artisanal hand-crafted organic free-range flame-kissed poultry experience.”

Brother… it’s still chicken.

The chili vendor understood human nature better than most MBA graduates.

People desperately want simple answers in a complicated world.

That’s why this story connects so beautifully with Scripture.

The Bible says in Proverbs 18:17:
“The first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.”

In other words:
Confidence can sound a lot like truth.

People say things with such confidence that others assume they must know what they’re talking about.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep inside, even the speaker is thinking:
“I truly hope nobody asks follow-up questions.”

Another powerful verse is James 1:5:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.”

That verse matters because wisdom is different from cleverness.

The chili seller was clever.

But true wisdom goes deeper.

Wisdom teaches us how to discern truth from appearance.
How to avoid being manipulated by confidence alone.
How to think carefully instead of blindly following the crowd.

In today’s world, we are surrounded by “chili classifications.”

Social media influencers telling us what success looks like.
Corporations defining happiness.
Politicians defining truth.
Culture defining morality.
Everybody confidently sorting chilies into categories.

And people keep buying.

But wisdom asks:
“Is this actually true?”

Or am I just impressed by confidence?

Still, there’s also something admirable about the old vendor.

She adapted.
She stayed calm.
She found opportunity instead of complaining.
She didn’t panic because her inventory looked uneven.
She used creativity to finish the day.

And sometimes survival requires a little humor too.

Because life itself is a market full of spicy surprises.

Some come dark.
Some come long.
Some come soft.

But eventually, every one of us learns the same truth:
All Chilies Are Spicy.