Maple Lake was written a long time ago before I was saved by God's Grace. When I was 19 yrs old, one of my best friends, named Mike, was diagnosed with luekemia. The group of friends I hung out with were confident in his recovery. He had chemo, and after a bone marrow transplant began to get better. Our confidence was still very strong but it was not based on any faith, none of us were Christians. Within 6 months, Mike took a turn for the worse, the cancer came back, and he was dead.
You'll never see a more hopeless, confused, and hurt bunch of teenagers than those who do not know the Lord and are standing at the casket of their dead friend. All we had was questions, nobody had any answers.
I remember at that time there was this place, Maple Lake, that we all used to hang out together. Its where I was on that morning I received the phone call that Mike had passed. Looking back, I can see that God provided us a place of beauty and comfort even though at that time I did not recognize Him as the Creator.
At 25 years old the Holy Spirit called me out of darkness and I got saved. I accepted Jesus into my heart and my life. It was after this that a memory came back to me. I remembered being in one of the hospital waiting rooms with my group of friends one day after visiting with Mike. A priest had entered the room and announced to us that Mike had accepted Jesus into his heart and made his peace with God. We asked him cynically if that meant he would walk again. There was no further conversation on thae subject.
And then it hit me, Mike accepted the Lord Jesus into his heart and indeed will walk again! Hallelulah! I will see Mike on that glorious day of Christ's return! Maple Lake is a song that reflects on that place that God gave to me as a place of comfort, as a sort of deposit, a prelude to the exceeding comfort and joy that would be found when I ultimately came to him.
Won't you do the same?
-coz