May 9, 1975 (5th post): Cindy and I, when considering why we refuse to settle for traditional Christianity, come up with a list of joys we’ve experienced, joys that have forever changed us.

May 9, 1975 (4th post): Joe continues to berate us and says we must be under church authority. He agrees his family and ours were called to establish a Christian community, so I suggested we move in with them for a time, and submit to the authority of his church and him. Joe turns us down. Cindy brings clarity to why so many turn against me; it is because I am so open and honest about my struggles, which makes others realize the weaknesses they prefer to hide.

May 9, 1975 (third post): Joe tells me he has lost faith in Cindy and I. We are shocked to find out our private conversations with our friends Arnold and Carol, in which we openly confessed our faults (as the Bible says we should), has led to them to conclude we are not holy enough to keep company with.

May 9, 1975 (2nd Post): Grace continues to share her story – she sometimes doubts her salvation and admits the doubts usually arise when she sees how Christians live such worldly and secretive lives; I send a heartfelt letter of my own doubts concerning the traditional church, to our closest friends, Joe and Marie Umidi.

May 9, 1975 (Friday): We meet Grace at The Crossroads; she echoes what all of us are seeing and feeling, a growing dissatisfaction with the traditional church structure; we all want that deeper walk with Jesus we experienced when we were first saved and aren’t buying the church line that it’s just a passing phase.

April 6, 1975 (5th Post): In St. John, New Brunswick, where we bought the restaurant, we are offered a live-in ministry to young people at The Crossroads and we accept; we now have a place to stay while fixing up the restaurant; we return to Springwater Habitation for a visit, hoping for reconciliation; their hypocrisy is mind-numbing.

April 6, 1975 (4th Post): The coffee house/youth ministry in Bear River is not doable now, with all the animosity over our marriage; with our exp. in natural foods and having worked at a nat. foods restaurant, we buy a restaurant trailer with all the equipment for $1,000.

April 6, 1975 (3rd Post): Cindy crying much of the time over this decision of the so-called body of Christ (wherein everyone is linked more to their jobs and their blood relatives than they are to one another; they are scattered in various towns and see each other only a few hours a week); I realize it is they who have wavered; we decide to stay together.

April 6, 1975 (2nd Post): Those who married us are confronted by those with the legalistic attitude of a Pharisee and give in, telling us we must now separate and divorce; at first I agree.

April 6, 1975 (Sunday): The reasoning provided to our Christian pastoral and ministry friends for a spiritual marriage and their clear agreement; no one stepped forward at the ceremony when Earl said, “If anyone has a reason as why they shouldn’t be married, speak up now or forever hold your peace”.