put this in your client.rb

moar-template-debug.rb

require 'chef/mixin/template'
require 'chef/provider/template'

module Chef::Mixin::Template

  alias :original_render_template :render_template

  def render_template(template, context)
    STDERR.puts("rendering template with:")
    STDERR.puts(template)
    original_render_template(template, context)
  end

end

class Chef::Provider::Template

  alias :original_template_location :template_location

  def template_location
    result = original_template_location
    STDERR.puts("Found template for #{@new_resource} at path #{result}")
    result
  end

end