I love listening to Stop This Train by John Mayer. The song begins with a gentle, calming acoustic riff that repeats throughout, echoing the steady rhythm of a fast‑moving train. It’s one of those tracks I often leave playing on repeat – whether I’m working or driving – and it’s been accompanying me once again as I put together this week’s Perspective.
Beyond its distinctive guitar riff, the lyrics resonate deeply with me – speaking to the reality of growing older, the unsettling speed of life, and the sorrow of watching friends and loved ones age and eventually leave this earthly life.
The year 2025 was particularly difficult for me. It felt like wave after wave of painful news – friends being diagnosed with cancer, watching some grow weaker with each treatment, and hearing of others who left this world suddenly. Each loss carried within it a quiet regret that I hadn’t spent more time with them while I still could.
About two months ago, a close friend learned she had cancer. The diagnosis came without any warning signs, and almost overnight her world was filled with anxiety and fear. After undergoing further tests, she began chemotherapy. Then, as if the weight wasn’t already heavy enough, her mother passed away suddenly last week. She was utterly heartbroken and devastated – it felt like one painful blow after another.
Just a few days ago, my friends and I attended the funeral of her mother. After the service, while we were standing with the family at the crematorium, another close friend pulled me aside to tell me he had just noticed blood in his urine. He looked pale, so I insisted on taking him straight to the nearest A&E. He has been hospitalised ever since.
Those who attended our Watchnight service may recall that I shared about my own health concerns. Last year, doctors detected an abnormality in one of the nodules in my right lung. Although I haven’t experienced any pain, it is being closely monitored, and I am scheduled for a CT scan this May to check for any changes.
The lyrics,
“So scared of getting older
I’m only good at being young
So I play the numbers game
To find a way to say that
Life has just begun”,
echo exactly what I felt in that moment after the U12 mini soccer competition in November. Playing alongside the parents and boys made me feel youthful once more, even prompting the light‑hearted thought that “I’m not doing too bad for someone in his 50s.”
But when the aches and pains settled in afterward, reality caught up with me. My body reminded me that I’m no longer as young as I once was – certainly no longer a “spring chicken!”
Mayer’s words capture that tension perfectly: the desire to hold on to youth, to pretend we can still keep pace, and the quiet fear that comes with noticing time catching up.
Just as the song speaks of playing the “numbers game” to convince oneself that life has only just begun, my own experience mirrors that same longing – wanting to believe that age is ‘just a number’, even as my body gently (or not-so-gently) reminds me otherwise.
And together with everything that’s happened in the past year, these moments have prompted me to reflect on how quickly life moves, much like Mayer’s fast‑moving train.
Moments like these make me wish this train of life would slow down – just enough for me to catch my breath and perhaps spend more time with the people God has placed around me, or even to savour the days before my own journey in this side of heaven comes to an end.
Mayer’s words echo this longing:
“Stop this train
I wanna get off
And go home again
I can’t take the speed
It’s movin’ in
I know I can’t
But honestly
Won’t someone stop this train?”
Don’t we all feel this way – that life often feels like a fast‑moving train – rushing forward whether we are ready or not?
The older we get, the more aware we become of how fragile and fleeting our time is. Scripture reminds us that our days are like “a breath” and “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (Psalm 39:5, James 4:14).
We cannot slow the train; we cannot stop time from moving. But we can ask God to help us live wisely and faithfully within it.
Psalm 90:12 offers this prayer: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
In other words, instead of trying to stop the train, God invites us to recognise the gift of each day, to live intentionally, and to hold our moments and our loved ones with gratitude.
Even when life feels overwhelming, we trust that our lives are in God’s hands. He is the One directing our steps (Proverbs 16:9). And so, we keep riding the train – not in fear, but in faith – believing that God journeys with us in every season.
After walking through a year filled with loss, unexpected diagnoses, personal health concerns, and the sobering realisation of how quickly time moves, my heart inevitably turns toward gratitude.
And that is why the words of another song – Stuart Townend’s hymn speak so deeply to me. They remind me that even in seasons where life feels heavy and the “train” seems to be moving too fast, God’s wisdom remains my peace and His love anchors my days.
“My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above;
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose every thought is love.
For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King.
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow Him”.
And that every moment I still have on this earth is a gift from the King. And so, rather than fearing the speed of life or the passing of time, these lyrics draw me back to what truly matters: to live each day with thankfulness, and to offer my life – my whole life – to love and follow Him. Interestingly, his new arrangement of the hymn sounds like a train moving along as well (listen to it here).
A phrase I often say when saying goodbye to a friend is this, “I’ll see you when I see you!” And I mean it with all my heart, because life moves so quickly and only God knows what tomorrow brings. So, when you hear me say, “I’ll see you when I see you,” I trust that in God’s plans and timing, our paths will cross again.
For now, perhaps it’s time I properly learn that riff from Stop This Train – before the only thing I can play is “Stop This Pain.”
[1] Stop this Train by John Mayer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6eX7jeJ6E&list=RDOf6eX7jeJ6E&start_radio=1
2 My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness by Stuart Townend – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJdpoX9kpyQ&list=RDWJdpoX9kpyQ&start_radio=1
