Today, I interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to talk about what happened in the early hours of Sunday (27) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As I write this post, 232 have already died this morning in the Santa Maria tragedy: the Kiss nightclub fire. Everyone was very young. They were at the peak of their youth and were taken ahead of time by this tragedy.

The Godllywood blog, as well as all of the Universal Church, is in solidarity with the victims’ families during a time when Brazil is in mourning. Unfortunately, there is nothing else that we can do for those who died. But we can do our part for those who survived and the families who are suffering the pain and despair of a sudden loss of a loved one.

The “Mothers in Prayer” group voluntarily went to Santa Maria to show solidarity to the mothers that lost their children that morning. They helped out and gave these families important spiritual support during their time of need. Pastor Carlos Cucato, from Porto Alegre, informed that there are volunteers from Rio Grande do Sul donating blood, collecting water, masks and disposable gloves (to volunteer your help, go to your local UCKG or by email @ sossantamaria r7.com).

I think that what we are doing reflects God’s will: bring the families that are suffering together and give them support, comfort and strength – do everything possible to help. This is the kind of work that Godllywood does, which is shown every week on the blog. This is the spirit of the Universal Church.

A mother waits in anguish, for her child to come home after having fun at the nightclub during the late hours of the night. But tonight her worst nightmare came true. Her child did not come home. He doesn’t answer her phone calls. She finds him among several other bodies, a multitude of dead bodies. But it’s not just one more dead body to her.

It was a time of great horror. The fire spread in less than three minutes, there was only one exit, the power outage left everyone in the dark. Smoke and darkness. Hundreds of young people looking for a way out. Some, believing they had found the door, died trapped in the bathroom. Others were trampled. Everything happened very fast.

It is still too early to pinpoint which security flaw led to this tragedy, but we are sure of one thing: what happened was not God’s will. In the Bible, He says that he has no pleasure in anyone’s death. He does not consider us puppets. We believe that those who have not given their life to Him are subject to natural events, without God’s interference. This is why it is so important to pray for our loved ones who are not in the faith.

The security guards did not notice the fire and blocked the exit. They were worried that people were rushing out without paying. When they realized what was happening, everything lost its value. Getting out of there was all that mattered. That is life. In the meantime, we do not realize how fragile our life and the lives of the people around us are. We only care about money, expenses, holding grudges, holding on to religious rituals, and a lot of other insignificant things. However, once we realize it, we will see that the only thing that really matters is our salvation, our eternal life.

Brazil is officially in mourning. The Bible says “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living take that into consideration,” Ecclesiastes 7.2

Ps: I thought it would be important to talk about here, because many girls that are a part of Godllywood are also in the age range of the victims in this tragedy. Their mothers will not wake up in the middle of the night with this kind of horrible news. Value the opportunity that you have been given.