Courtesy

I had taken one too many sets of flashcards with me to the orphanage, and my hips were giving out by the end. I boarded the tram and quickly grabbed the last seat.

I was almost at the end of the ride when an elderly woman got on. I always hesitate for a moment because I don't want some middle-aged woman to think I mistook her for elderly.

Anyway, this woman was elderly, and I stood up. "Don't stand up," she said. I didn't argue. "I'm not tired, and you are," she said, putting her bag down. I smiled at her appreciatively. She continued talking. "I know how women get tired. You probably work, study, and have kids?" "Well, not my own, but I was just in the orphanage," I said. "And what do you do there? Work? Teach? Are you a believer?" "I'm a believer," I said. "I thought so. Where do you go?" I explained where my church met, and she said she attended a Baptist church nearby.

"I can always recognize believers," she said. "There's something in their gaze." I agreed that sometimes that was the case. "Even Jehovah's Witnesses," she said. "They just love the Lord, and they tell about Him in their own way." Oops. What do I say now? It was her stop and she was getting off, offering blessings as she went. I was saved from answering.

In the meantime, another elderly women had boarded, and I started to get up. "Don't stand up," she said. "My stop is next." I remained in my seat and breathed a sigh of relief.