Waiting in Purgatory

By JT Raper

Purgatory: a place that holds all of those who died before their sins were atoned. It is a vast room, shaped like a dome. The walls feel like they are made of rock, yet they are clearly not, as they exhibit translucent properties. The dead can see images and moving pictures with minimal sound of those that are still living. Over time, entire families and communities and those that are like minded come together to watch their living family members and friends go through their struggles. In the center of the room is a tall staircase, square in shape, that folds back on itself. It climbs high into the dome and disappears into the darkness at the top. The recently deceased will descend those stairs, after the sound of a "door" closing. This happens each time anyone dies...no exceptions. There have only been two that did not, and they are never spoken of in Purgatory.

This short story accounts the lives of the dead before Jesus died, and their possible interactions between the righteous and unrighteous can be found, played out over hundreds of years. They all know what to expect each day to be, but then Jesus is born, and things start to look different. Maybe, there might be room in Purgatory for the one word that has been missing since Abel first descended those stairs: hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JT Raper
• Release date: Aug 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370825295

JT Raper

My name is Jeremy (JT) Raper, and I am a Physics and Engineering teacher at Bob Jones High School (BJHS) in Madison, AL. I was born and raised in Louisville, Ky. I received my BS in Physics from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Ky. in 1993. I went on to complete an MS in Physics (Astrophysics emphasis) from U of L in 1995. I came to Huntsville to work on my PhD in Physics (shifted to Optical Science Engineering). While here, I met and married my wife and began teaching at BJHS after receiving a Secondary Education Certificate. As a science teacher, I have taught Physical Science, Environmental Science, Physics, Honors Physics, AP Physics, and Robotics, and filled-in on occasion in the Math department. As a Career Tech teacher, I have taught Principles of Engineering, Advanced Engineering Design, and Engineering Internship. I have been awarded the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year in 2000, a member of the Who's Who in Teachers, nominated as a Disney Teacher of the Year 2002, the Air Force Association State Teacher of the Year 2011, the Milken Family Foundation National Teacher of the Year 2011, and the Bob Jones and District Teacher of the Year 2013. I worked for NASA before teaching as a computer programmer for the Cassini project in the greatest programming language of all time FORTRAN 77. Our group was responsible for the software program that ran the Cassini satellite. After getting married, I began working at BJHS in 1998 and did so until 2002. I left the classroom to return to NASA. I worked with NASAexplores and the NASA Educational Technology Services teams on various Web sites (including the then-new NASA portal). I wrote lesson plans, published material to the Web, coded HTML, presented at conferences, and helped redesign many features of the NASA Portal for kids, students, and educators. The best perk of the job was getting to meet astronauts. In 2005, the world of teaching was calling again, so I returned to BJHS to start the E4T Academy. I also have a part-time job as a math tutor at Mathnasium. My wife and I have three daughters (with one dog, one cat, and one turtle). My children attend Providence Classical School, where my wife teachers 1st grade. We are members of Southside Baptist Church and also attend Summit Crossing Church. In my spare time, I enjoy playing video and board games, spending time with my family, maintaining a vegetable garden, and coaching/refereeing soccer (and on occasion basketball and volleyball).

Book preview

Waiting in Purgatory

Copyright 2017 JT Raper

Published by JT Raper at Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter One: An Introduction to Purgatory

Chapter Two: Watchers versus Cains

Chapter Three: The Giant Doors

Chapter Four: The Birth of John the Baptist

Chapter Five: The Birth of Jesus

Chapter Six: The Life of Jesus

Chapter Seven: The Death of Jesus

Chapter Eight: The Wall of Jericho

Chapter Nine: The Breaking of the Doors

Chapter Ten: Jesus Comes at Last

About JT Raper

Connect with JT Raper

Acknowledgments

I can do nothing without credit being given to God, His Son, and His Spirit. I dedicate this short story to them and my family, that the Lord has graciously given me. I have always wanted to write a book and publish it. I never had the courage to do it, but with a contest between me and my daughter was put before me, I decided now if the time to be bold enough to finish a story and put it out to the world. I hope this is one of many books I publish...enjoy!

Prologue

Before fully understanding the accounts to follow, a general knowledge of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible and Jesus' life on Earth would help. The characters are real, but their depictions are just my own opinion about what might have happened. Exact quotes from Scripture are used for each person in many cases, to give more credit to my ideas, but also to show that each person was real. I would not call the accounts of these people historical revisionism, but rather historical fiction. So, step inside a place created to hold people until a predetermined time in history...the most important event for all humanity!

Chapter One: An Introduction to Purgatory

Welcome to Purgatory, the man says, holding his arms out like he might hug the person slowly descending the wooden staircase. The stairs looked well worn, like they had been there forever. The smooth dark wood was well constructed, feeling very sturdy while walking down it. The person on it noticed that it creaked every so often, and while that might have caused alarm to other people, he did not seem bothered. He makes it to the bottom with a crowd of people gathered. Some of the faces are smiling, some are frowning, and then some look, for lack of a better word, bored.

Thank you, the man says genuinely, then asks, Where did you say I am? Another person chimes in, Purgatory: the place all those who have died go and wait. At the word 'wait', several people start talking at once. Wait? more like death...by boredom...been forgotten...lost in nowhere... and on and on they went. Confused from just coming down, the voices of a mass of people talking at once only makes it worse. The man's head is swimming now, as he tries to figure out what is happening, and how he got here.

He was laying on his bed. He had been so tired from the day, as an old man should be. Wait, he says to himself as he looks at his hand, those look like young man's hands. Ha, one man shouts, The new guy just figured out he is young again. The man looks up perplexed, starting to believe that he might be dreaming. Someone else, having seen that look before, says, No, you are not dreaming. This is as real as it gets for any of us now.

So, I'm... and he left the sentence unfinished. There was a silence, as if the mockers wanted to make sure their voice was heard clearly or maybe the encouragers wanted to savor the moment. Either way, they lost their chance as a strong voice said, Dead? Yes, you died not long ago and have entered Purgatory, like every person who has died before you. The recent citizen to Purgatory turns around to see a rather tall, good looking man. His strong jaw and broad shoulders made him think of the many farmers he knew...or at least the men he used to know.

The big man holds out his hand to shake the new guy's hand saying, My name is Abel, the first resident of Purgatory and the unofficial leader. There were some grumblings at the word 'leader', but no one disputed who he was and when he got here. Hello, the man said, It is an honor to meet you, Son of Adam. At the name 'Adam', the crowd stepped back from him, as if they expected lightning to come down and strike the man who just descended the stairs. One man in the crowd speaks up, loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to be obnoxious, Leave it to the new guy to make everyone feel uncomfortable before they even know who he is.

Abel holds his hand up to silence the crowd and quell their fears, Job...it is okay. He does not know the rules, and since I happen to be here now, I will do it. Abel puts his arm around him and leads him away from the crowd and stairs. Samuel, Abel says over his shoulder, You and your group can handle the greetings as usual. Samuel nods his head ever