?How local is the refinery
​
Well it's closer than you think, its inside you.  
While fine tuning your surroundings brings joy for the moment, the most rewarding refinery exists in the
depth of your soul. Have you visited lately? 
Are you able to get there?  
Day in and day out we choose to be defined by the world or
defined by the truth. Can you handle the heat of verity?
Are you brave enough to walk into the furnace while
spectators whisper? 
 Are you strong enough to turn up the temperature yourself? 
The greater question still, are you willing to be stripped of the
shell the world uses to define you, broken of the mold you built
yourself into, melted down in humility, scraped free of impurities, slowly emptied into a tighter, more narrow form,
and finally meticulously polished to perfection in order
to be presented to a king
of the highest omniscience?
​



The tangible
 and intangible aspects of personal  transformation is what life 
.is truly about
-amber plaster-                                                     


  1. Photo Credit:
    10 Jan, 2017
    If You're Not Dreaming of Building Pipes......
    ...it's probably not a pipe dream!!           If you dream of building organs, flutes and other wind instruments, maybe you do have a pipe dream.  If you dream of waterslides, half pipes and plumbing, those could be considered pipe dreams as well.  However, if your dreams involve ideas that seem larger than life, out of your reach and go far beyond benefitting yourself, you have a God dream my friend!! You do not have dream that is an accumulation of wasted thought investments going down the
  2. Little Reminders Make Big Impacts
    09 Jan, 2017
    Little Reminders Make Big Impacts
    There are special moments in life when we get confirmations. Confirmations of making the right decision, confirmations we are heard, and confirmations that we are traveling the path intended for us. Confirmations feel so good, even if they are assertions that leaving something or someone behind was the best option. It's this sense of peace and solace that covers you and in those moments you truly believe everything will be alright, its been confirmed with a gentle shoulder hug and a
  3. The Packaging of Change Does Not Hinder the Vision of the Gift
    04 Jan, 2017
    The Packaging of Change Does Not Hinder the Vision of the Gift
    Change comes to us in all sorts of packaging, doesn't it? Some beautifully wrapped almost as pleasingly enjoyable as the gift it holds.  Sometimes we almost don't even want to open it because the thought of being more impressed with the wrapping than what is hiding inside, might force us to face the ugliness of our ungratefulness.  Then there are the packages that have coverings with awful patterns, crunched and crumpled with torn scotch tape permanently pressing noticeable wrinkles in
  4. Photo Credit: Daniel Holm Hansen
    02 Jan, 2017
    Taking Chances
    I've always been a risk taker.  More so in the sense of allowing myself to be vulnerable to heartbreak and risking the odds for disappointment rather than jumping out of planes and such, which I actually have done, twice! I have always believed it is important to take risks on people and opportunities to love and doing so begs us to undress ourselves to the exposure of someone else's judgments of our unique designs.  Depending on your definitions of dangerous, this act could very well be
  5. You Have an Elastic Heart Too, Can You Feel It?
    31 Dec, 2016
    You Have an Elastic Heart Too, Can You Feel It?
    In the greatest moments of your life it can seem that time is accelerating and you are desperately taking in every precious second before it slips into memory while in the hardest moments of your life it can feel like time slows to stillness that creates a notion that you will never escape the pain you're experiencing. You sense your insides are being twisted and wrung out, like you just might dry up and wither away from the loss of all hydration through your tear ducts. You cling to the
  6. Get Your Feet Off the Ground
    30 Dec, 2016
    Get Your Feet Off the Ground
    They told you to "get your head out of the clouds" as if the clouds were at fault for blurring your vision of the dreams you hold dear. Could the clouds actually be challenging your preparedness for all that awaits you above them? Could their thickness possibly be blocking you from focusing in on the stormy observations of your spectators?    Maybe they have moved in around you to distract you from what others see rather than to keep you from what you see.       They told you to "keep your