Here we go. I’ve carved out my five minutes for this week’s Five Minute Friday exercise. Kate Motaugn (in the Community section at www.fiveminutefriday.com) supplied this week’s prompt — NEXT — and turned it over the FMF crew to expand and embellish. And, of course, we meet and greet at her place to share and network. It’s fun, fun, fun and keeps our neurons sharp.

Ready to join in yet?

Okay, here’s another take from Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat. Don’t listen to me. Listen to Elizabeth.

“The FMF community is a welcoming, fun and caring group of writers. They have helped me stretch and grow both as a writer and a person. The challenge to write about a single word for only five minutes is an excellent exercise and God has revealed thoughts to me that I don’t think I would have come up with otherwise.”

There you go. Now to this week’s task. The timer is set. Let’s GO…

The band of 12  just had a celebratory dinner with their Leader. They broke bread, shared a cup of wine. They also didn’t understand fully what was coming next, but for this night they were together in solidarity.

Then came the morning. Their Leader was railroaded at a mock trial, beaten, tortured and ultimately killed in a most horrific way. For our band of followers, the question was, what’s next?

Their world had just crumbled. The Messiah … the Savior from Rome’s heavy hand … the Deliverer and His message was now in doubt. They were huddled together in an upper room, afraid for their lives as they pondered what was next. Should they continue this ministry and risk death like their Leader? Should they quietly go back to their homes and hope the neighborhood forgives and forgets their dalliance with this treasonous leader? What’s next?

They weren’t expecting what actually happened next. They weren’t expecting an empty tomb. In fact, some … STOP

… actually wondered what happened to His body. They saw Him tortured. They saw Him die. They saw Him entombed. They thought His body may have been desecrated further by the Romans at the bequest of the Pharisees or somehow stolen.

What happened next was the Resurrection! The empty tomb! The fulfillment of Jesus’ life! What happened next was the establishment of a portal back into the heavenly fold we were designed for.

What happens next for you and me? Do we chalk up the Easter season — the Easter miracle — as a poignant story for the moment and go back to our day-to-day lives Monday morning? Or do we see the truths Jesus taught while He walked on this earth? Do we gather them in our hearts and minds? Do we translate those words into actions — sharing His life through our actions?

What’s next?

Well, Jesus told them on the mountain in Galilee and by extension us what’s next. I will be you always. [Matthew 28:20]

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. — Maya Angelou