Photos of our new arrival...

Many have been asking for photos of Benjmain.

So, we have selected some of our favorites and posted them in this slideshow.  You can also find them at: http://bit.ly/BenjaminPaulRebholz


If viewing this from a mobile platform or stream that doesn't support flash, please see the web album at: http://bit.ly/BenjaminPaulRebholz

The Arrival of Baby Rebholz...

Yesterday, Wednesday the 29^th was a L O N G day!!!!

God brought Benjamin Paul Rebholz into this world at 5:50 PM weighing 6 lbs 8 oz and 19.25 inches long.  Praise the Lord he is healthy and an absolute delight!

Overview of the day: 7:30 AM Dr broke the water and began Pitocin drip-“inducing” drug (medicine to bring about contractions).  Labor was progressing slowly until after intense pain an epidural was given (which there is a God story in the timing of the epidural being administered).  Then labor took off like lightening.  After pushing for about 2 hours, the baby’s head would drop with each push but return to its original position at the end of the pushing.  Dr assessed that the way he was positioned, he just wasn’t going to come out. Leslie says:

"The Lord humbled me when the Dr said that he wasn’t going to come out that way and I would have to have a Caesarian Section.

Being wheeled into the surgery room, God granted me the peace that this was His plan (c-section) all along despite my human efforts and pride.  Tears of overwhelming joy came as our son was shown to us for the first time around the curtain in the operating room."

Finally at 9:30 PM Leslie was wheeled up to the Postpartum Floor (the floor for all post delivery moms and babies) and reside here (at the hospital) till Saturday evening (72 hours after the the birth).

If you are on facebook, you can read many of Mike’s posts throughout yesterday. We hope to post photos to our baby website (http://www.whattoexpect.com/profile/LeslieReb) in the next few days.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road in the Life of Faith

It is truly an amazing experience to be a faith-supported missionary. (For those that don’t know, a faith-supported missionary is someone who must raise financial support to be in ministry. For Leslie and I, we raise 100% of what it costs to employ us with Campus Crusade for Christ.) Everyone must live the life of faith. There are times in the life of each believer that it is much more obvious than other times that faith is necessary. The process that Leslie and I have been going through is what I have termed “Where the rubber meets the road in the life of faith.”

Over the last 13 weeks, Leslie and I have had two different goals that we needed to see God’s financial provision in order to remain in ministry. We actually have just begun another goal and will probably have one more following that for us to reach 100% of what we need (each of which if we don’t meet, we will need to leave our present ministry). I say that only to let you know that we are still in process and in the midst of having to trust God.

Our first goal was for 6 weeks and we saw God provide a large portion of what we needed in the first couple of weeks. Then things seemed to slow to a halt. We would make phone call after phone call to people familiar with our ministry and not see any results. As we got closer and closer to our deadline, we knew God could provide, but would He. Our goal was met a few days before our deadline and we were able to be at peace.

This last goal, however was for 7 weeks and with only two weeks left, we still had more than half of our goal to go. To be honest, the stress between Leslie and I grew with each day. We saw God provide almost a third of what was left, then nothing. We entered into our final few days this week with $200 in monthly support to still raise for our deadline at 1:30 PM this afternoon. At one point, I turned to Leslie and said, “Even if we make our goal on Friday, I’m not sure I can take another goal.” The stress of living with if it is God’s desire for us to continue on in ministry or not was wearing upon me.

The problem with what I was thinking was that I wanted to short circuit God’s plan. I wanted to have Him take away the hard things in life. I wanted God to provide so that I could live at peace. The problem with that is that God never promised he would remove the hard times to give me peace. He says in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

By the very fact that He mentions not being troubled or fearful, it implies He isn’t removing the situations that might be troubling or causing fear.

Last night, we confirmed a total amount that left us just $8 short of our goal for this afternoon. We spent time calling, e-mailing, and facebooking people trying to come up with this $8 a month. At one point, I got a commitment from a person that said “If you don’t have it by tomorrow afternoon, let me know and I’ll do it for you.”

I felt comforted by the fact that there was a safety net in a sense. I e-mailed that person just prior to noon to let them know that we hadn’t reached anyone who was willing to give and were they still willing.

But then, as only God can do, we received a message that someone on our current financial support team was having to discontinue their support. Then within minutes, we had another e-mail from someone saying that they would join our team. This person's gift was enough to make up the amount that was lost and the remaining $8 we needed to meet our goal.

In that moment, I was ashamed of my unbelief. It was a tangible action that showed I didn’t believe that God would provide. His provision came just 80 minutes before our deadline. And yet, it was perfect timing.

The process of raising support has in a sense been a pressure cooker for us. There are things that come out in our relationship that we need to work on. The very things that made me want to just walk away. However, as a wise counselor shared with us, our support raising process is just the mechanism that God is using to bring these things out in our lives. The issues are still there with or without raising support.

Praise God that He is sovereign and doesn’t let me control my own path. I would take the shortcut every time. But the shortcut is not always for my benefit. I thank God that He desires to see me refined in ways that I can’t even imagine — and that He has a plan that goes beyond anything I know today.

Photos from our Staff Conference in Colorado

As an added bonus to the photos from our newsletter, we are posting the photos that couldn't fit on the page.


These are from our US Staff Conference in Colorado

Mike and Leslie enjoying the view at the top of Horsetooth Mountain after they hiked up there.

Mike's old Student Venture Staff friends (Debi & Robin) pause for a photo with him.

Friends who are also a Campus Crusade staff couple meet for dinner with the Rebholz's. Both couples soon (mid August) to celebrate 3 years of marriage within 1 week of each other!
Mike's second home, the presentation desk, during the staff conference.

Staff who are new to Keynote as Mike was or is their support coach.

Leslie with friends (Rose and Omar) from her previous ministry with Life Builders.

Moby Gym filled with 5,000 stateside Campus Crusade staff for the conference.

This year's staff conference theme was "Connect".

One of Campus Crusade's national leaders addresses staff during the conference.

Keynote led worship for the staff conference.

Singing and signing language (far right) to our Lord.

A view of the stage from the upper section of Moby Gym.

Tenth Avenue North, a christian band, gave a concert.

Mike and Leslie taking a pose on a rock half way up the mountain on their hike.

Upclose to a deer during our hike.

Lecrea, a christian hip-hop artist, gave a concert which Mike. You may remember Mike ran lyrics for him during the Impact conference at Christmas time. Someone accepted Christ at that concert because of the lyrics.

Leslie and Mike get a moment together as Mike is working the sessions during the conference.

A stop at a store in Estes Park with a furry friend, a moose.

Mike and Leslie spent an evening with her brother John and his girlfriend, Marcy.

Powerful worship times during the staff conference.

Thomas, Liz and Leslie stop at Keynote's booth during the Ministry fair.

Perspective on Life (A view of Christ through death and disease)

In recent months I (Mike) have been faced with numerous friends, neighbors, and family who are facing significant life crises -- everything from stage 4 cancer, to Lyme disease, to gallbladder disease, and even amputations. Through websites like Caringbridge.com, Carepages.com, and even Facebook.com, their struggles are lived out in very public ways. They are struggling through questions that quite frankly I’ve never had to face in my own life.

My wife Leslie has been encouraging me to write some of my thoughts on the topic, but I’ve felt that I’m the wrong one to write. I’m not the one who is going through these things. But, my friend Polly just wrote something that made me say, “I have to write.” Polly has Lyme disease and it has caused severe Autonomic Dysfunction.

Polly and her husband Jack work for Student Venture, the jr. high and high school ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. I worked with them for a number of years from a distance (resourceing them) and at conferences.

As I understand it, Lyme disease (caused by a bacteria) when treated, actually causes greater symptoms of the disease as the bacteria are dying off (a process called Herxing). I cannot imagine the hard balance between experiencing a worsening of the symptoms but also killing off the bacteria that cause the disease in the first place. For Polly, any illness is magnified, as her immune system can’t respond normally. Needless to say, this causes life to look significantly different.

Polly’s perspective on life with Lyme disease (along with the example of so many of my other friends who are suffering) inspires me to live differently.

Here are Polly’s words:

…as i began to pray the Holy Spirit quickly met me and said, "You can worry about how this disease will affect you next week, five years from now...or you can trust me and live abundantly where i have you each and every day."

Certainly i grieve this awful disease and wonder how much less active or shorter my life may be because of it, but i would much rather rest in His peace and enjoy what He gives me than be bitter, hurting mom and wife.i don't know, i guess when the Lord said that i just got two pictures of myself, each 20 or so years from now. One was as a bitter woman bemoaning the fact that i can't run around in the woods with my grandkids as i would like to, worried if i would live to see their next birthdays. The other was one on a porch in a cabin in the woods. I'm laying in a lounge chair surrounded by my kids and grandkids laughing, snuggling reading books and marveling at God's creation which we are surrounded by. Who of you by worrying can add even an hour to your life? i choose scene two.

As Polly stated later, she wants to make clear that “choosing scene two is only by the grace of God and it is a moment by moment dependence.”

As I look at my own life, I have nothing to complain about compared to people like Polly, or my friend Barry who has finally had to have his foot partially amputated due to a motorcycle accident over ten years ago. I don’t suffer in any way shape or form in the way they do.

My friend Valerie is another example. Several years ago, she had an emotional break down that caused her life to come to a screeching halt. But the Lord did amazing things and healing was brought about. More recently she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. One thing after another has hit in Valerie’s life and yet she offers these words:

Does our life sound stressful? It has been. Have you read the book of Job in the Old Testament? Here’s a guy who just kept getting bad news. By the end of all the terrible news, he is grieving his losses and even depressed, but he never curses God for his circumstances. Most of the rest of us would ask, “Where does it stop?” The truth is, it may not stop, but from the beginning of my breakdown God has been teaching me that He is my Loving Father who suffers with us, and for us. Healing our souls and growing our love for Him are top priorities for God. In the midst of a lot of hardships and trials over the last few years, God has shown his faithfulness to us, and we are thankful for His continued pursuit of us. He has wept with us as we grieve, and rejoices with us, as we are encouraged.

As I look at these friends and the struggles they are going through, I loathe my own attitudes. How in the world can I feel bad about my own circumstances? My circumstances are nothing compared to these. The amazing thing is that Polly, Barry, Valerie, and I all have a personal relationship with God that sustains us in our present circumstances.

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

I don’t know about you, but these examples make me want to choose to live my life differently. When “tough” times come, I choose not to complain but to embrace the path that God is taking me on. I will choose to embrace the moment so that, like Polly’s example, I will choose scene two.

To read more about these friends I have mentioned, you may visit their Caring Bridge websites:

Polly Noonan http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/momoffive/

Barry Atwell http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/barryatwell/

Valerie Yarbro http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/valerieyarbro/

Christmas Greetings

Here is a copy of our latest prayer card. You can click the image to get a larger version for printing off.

We want to share with you this poem as we are remembering and celebrating the miraculous birth of our Savior. We give thanks to God the giver of ALL gifts!

May you know we are blessed by you!

The True Meaning Of Christmas
Jesus Christ was born this day

So many years before

He came a servant to the lost

Though he was Lord of Lords

We celebrate this joyous time

Reflecting on His birth

Not born in a mansion, but a stable

As if He had no worth

He came so He could identify

With the human heart of man

And gave His life as a sacrifice

Offering a better plan

A plan that reconciles us back

To our loving Father God

Bringing hope and redemption from

Sins ruling iron rod

For this is the only reason that we

Should celebrate this day

To become focused on anything else

Would take the meaning away

So let’s arise with joy in our hearts

And share it with everyone

The meaning of Christmas will always be

The birth of Jesus – God’s son

© By M.S.Lowndes

A Personal Memo & Prayer Request from Mike

A personal memo & prayer request from Mike:

At the beginning of Sept. I had an onset of excruciating pain in my neck and down my left arm. My doctor got me in the same day I called and took x-rays. I was then given prescriptions to take the edge off the pain. The x-rays showed early disc degeneration in the neck. My spine in my neck is also curved the wrong direction which is the source of the nerve pain.

For about the next week I was sleeping and laying flat on my back on the floor a majority of the day. After much discussion, consultation and prayer I am seeing a Chiropractor. Already, I am noticing a difference! The pain down my left arm is gone. I have gone from taking Vicodin every 4 hours to not having even taken Advil for a week and a half. Praise God-Yahweh Rophe (The Lord who heals)! Please continue to pray that my spine would readjust to its natural alignment and that we would continue to see improvements.

Recently I had the opportunity to share a devotional for our ministry's training in human resources on the topic of God's developmental plan. I chose to look at the life of Joseph. Following is a quick overview of that devotional.

Joseph & God's Developmental Plan - A Devotional

In Genesis 37, we see Joseph as a 17 year old. He brings a bad report to his father about his brothers (v. 2). We see that Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all the other sons and gives him a robe of many colors (v. 3) Joseph has a dream (v. 5) and then shares it with his brothers and his brothers hate him (v.8). He then has a second dream (v. 9). He shares it with his brothers and his father. His brothers are jealous of him (v. 11) and sell him off into slavery.

We get a sense if we look at Joseph through the lens of his brothers that they would see him as a tattletale and an arrogant little kid at this point in the story.  It would appear that Joseph didn't really have the wisdom and discernment to understand how these things would affect his brothers.  (Now bear with me as I know this is a bit of a departure from how we typically look at Joseph and it ignores God's role in this.  I'm shooting for how this plays into God's developmental plan for Joseph.)

If we skip ahead to Genesis 39, we find that Joseph has found favor in the eyes of his boss, Potiphar (v. 4).  Despite being a slave, he is doing something right.  He was a house slave, which I take to mean that he was well trusted.  Potiphar wouldn't have just let anyone have access to his house.

We see that Potiphar's wife is beginning to take notice of Joseph (v. 7).  She makes advances day after day (v. 10).  Then one day, none of the men were around (v. 11) and Joseph goes into the house to do his work and Potiphar's wife catches Joseph by his garment (v. 12).  Joseph uses great wisdom in getting out of there.

We see that Joseph has gone from being a tattletale, little brat, to now showing great wisdom in a troublesome situation.

Then if we jump ahead to Genesis 42, we find Joseph serving in a high-ranking position for Pharaoh (governor of the land).  Also, we find ten of Joseph's brother coming to Egypt because of the famine (v. 3).  Joseph remembers the dreams he had (v. 9).  Now Joseph really begins to show some great wisdom.  He is presented with an opportunity to really stick it to the same brothers that put him in a pit and sold him off into slavery.  But instead he in a way tests his brothers.

Joseph demands that Benjamin be brought to him for the brothers to "prove" that they really are all brothers.  But, he binds Simeon and keeps him until the brothers return with Benjamin.  Joseph then gives an order fill the brother's bags with grain and to replace the money in them (v. 25).

I find it rather interesting that Joseph is in a way testing the brothers to see if God has changed them in the years since he saw them last.  Would they just leave another brother in captivity?  Would they actually care enough to return with Benjamin?

As we fast forward to Genesis 43, we see the brothers return.  Joseph sees Benjamin and orders a dinner to be prepared (v. 16).    Joseph returns home and asks his brothers if this is Benjamin (v. 30).  Joseph is moved so much so by seeing Benjamin that he weeps.

I can't help but wonder if part of Joseph's weeping was rejoicing in the change that God had done in his brothers' lives.

Joseph goes on to further test his brothers in Genesis 44, but I won't get into that.

In Genesis 45, Joseph makes himself known to his brother (v. 1).  Joseph tells them to not be distressed or angry with themselves because they had sold him into slavery for God sent him before them to preserve their lives (v. 5).  He tells them that he will provide for them (v. 11).

There is a real difference that we see in Joseph from the early days of being perceived as a tattletale to the mature man of wisdom that is saving his family from the famine.

God's developmental plan in Joseph took him along a progression of building him up.  To prepare him for the day in which he would stand before many.  Preparing him for the day when he would face his brothers and have to decide whether to embrace them in love and forgiveness or to punish them for their deeds.

God uniquely prepared Joseph by taking him through a variety of situations that built him into the man God wanted him to be.  In our lives, God has a redemptive plan for us and a developmental plan for us.  In our roles in ministry, we need to be sensitive to where God has people in His plan.  Some will be in the early stages of His plan and others will be much further along.  But the same is true of them all, God is at work.

New Zealand Updates

While we are in New Zealand, we thought we would try to share some photos of our trip.  We don't want to clutter up the blog here, so we will post them all in our shared photo albums on Picasa.

You can find our New Zealand album here:

New Zealand Photos

Engagement -- Two Years ago today

Engagement -- Two Years ago today:

December 17, 2005
(Leslie and I the night of our engagement)

Leslie and I got engaged two years ago today. The day was designed around a scavenger hunt that took Leslie to special places form our relationship where a friend was waiting with a rose and a clue to the next location.

The trek took much longer than expected. From everything to a broken down car, to one special clue giver coming in from out of town who couldn't make it in time, it took over 7 hours to make it to the final location where I was waiting (it was planned to only take 4 hours.) The final location was the church where the Indianapolis Campus Crusade Day of Prayer was in October of 2004 where I had first laid eyes on her. She was asked to bring in her 11 roses that she had received at the earlier stops. As she entered the auditorium, the clue asked her to find the exact seat she sat in back in 2004. A tea light lit the base of each of the 39 photos from their relationship that lined the path to that exact seat.

I sat on the arm of the chair in front of her and asked her how the day was. I then pulled my Bible out from a concealed location and shared insights from a couple of verses in Proverbs 31 about how Leslie is worth more than a valuable treasure (vs. 10) and how she surpasses all other women (vs. 29). I then turned to 3 different passages that I had shared with her when I told her for the first time I loved her (Jeremiah 29:11, John 15:13, and 1 Corinthians 13). I then said that in our relationship covenant there were two things I had desired to change, but it required something first in order to change them. I then grabbed a ring box from a concealed location and turned around and got on one knee while opening the box to reveal a beautiful half-carat diamond ring. I then said "Leslie Lehman will you marry me?" With a slight pause and deliberateness to her gaze, she said, "Michael Rebholz I love you and yes I want to marry you." I pulled the ring from the box and lifted her hand and said, "May I?" With a nod, Leslie gave her acceptance and I placed the ring on her finger. She then leaped into my arm and sat upon my knee and then had a lengthy embrace.

I then turned to Leslie and reminded her I desired to change two things in our covenant. The first was to pray with one another. We then took a few minutes to pray. I began and Leslie closed after an extended prayer while I began to weaken under the weight of Leslie sitting upon my knee with it on a hard floor. She then knelt on the floor to finish her prayer. I then said that the second thing I wanted to change was that we had committed not kiss until engagement. I asked, "May I kiss you?" Leslie answered, "Yes." And Leslie and I had our first kiss.

(Leslie and I December 2007 - our first Christmas tree)

Christmas Photo Greeting

We wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. May God bless your new year.

Love, Mike & Leslie Rebholz



If you would like to print out a high-resolution copy of this image, it can be dowloaded at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrebholz72/ChristmasGreeting/photo#5140933613829219698
or click the image above.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Leslie and I wanted to wish everyone a 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

God's Creatures Good - Visitors Bad

God's Creatures Good - Visitors Bad

Leslie and I ended up with an unwanted visitor on our apartment balcony. Over the winter, we kept our bikes, some patio furniture, and a cooler under a tarp on our 2nd floor apartment balcony. The weeks leading up to our trip to Peoria for three weeks, we heard some noises outside our windows, but I (Mike) didn't think anything of it (Leslie did, but I continually calmed her by saying it was nothing). When we returned from our three weeks away, I went out onto our balcony to see if we could store something inside our cooler. I lifted the tarp to reveal debris. As I lifted some more, I saw some excrement. I thought to myself "How in the world did a cat get up here?" I pulled the tarp a little further and saw some dark fur and two large eyes staring at me. IT WAS A RACCOON!!!!

Knowing enough about raccoons, that they can be dangerous when cornered, I threw the tarp down and ran back into the apartment. I went up to our leasing office to find out if they had any ideas. The complex owns a live animal trap (as our complex is completely lined with trees, raccoons are apparently a common occurrence). Leslie was out grocery shopping, so I called and had her pick up a can of cat food (as apparently raccoons love cat food). Who ever knew cats like Salmon, Tuna and seashell stuff. Leslie was overwhelmed by the variety to choose from- much less, what would a raccoon like?

Dave, our maintenance supervisor brought the trap over to our apartment and set the trap on our balcony. We then waited for nightfall. We heard a couple of different noises on the balcony, so we decided to take a look. We discovered the can of cat food outside of the trap and completely empty. That raccoon was smart.

On Saturday during the day, I decided to see if the raccoon was still there. I lifted the tarp as I had done before, and didn't see anything. It was then that I discovered that the debris I had seen was the foam that previously had covered the handle bars of my bike. I lifted more of the tarp to discover that both of the seats on Leslie's and my bike and been eaten through and the foam centers were part of the debris on our balcony.

Not seeing the raccoon under the tarp, I began to pull the tarp to the other side of the balcony to reveal the total extent of the damage. I got to near the end of the tarp only to discover the raccoon had wrapped himself up in the tarp like it was a blanket and he was taking a nap after a nice big meal of cat food.

I dropped the tarp once again and ran back into the apartment. My bravery (or is it my stupidity, I'm not sure which) built up and I took another stab at pulling back the tarp. This time, the raccoon lazily got up out of the tarp and back into the corner.

At this point, I was determined that we were going to catch this guy. Leslie went to the store and bought a couple more cans of cat food. This time we decided to secure the cat food can to the cage. Around 7pm Sat. night we heard the raccoon stuck in the trap. "Ah, Poor guy" Leslie would think but then "you little stinker" for chewing our bikes.

Rest assured the raccoon was taken to a garage for safe keeping till the wildlife people could take him and release it FAR away. That's the story of Rocky the Raccoon adventure in the newlywed's (Rebs) abode.

Return Home

Return Home

Leslie and I just returned home from spending about 3 weeks in Peoria (Mike's home town). It was a fun time getting together with some current ministry partners and them introducing us to some of their friends through hosting a dinner. It was a lot of fun to get together with so many different people. We were challenged at the same time as we spent 3 weeks on the road and we were challeneged through the sermons we heard at my (Mike's) home church. You'll hear more about one of those in our upcoming newsletter.