The Desert Phone
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. – Romans 5:1 NKJV.
The desert phone was located 14 miles from the nearest paved road in the Mojave Desert in California. I first heard about the phone in 1999 but apparently news about the phone went viral in 1997. That was when Godfrey Daniels built a website dedicated to the Mojave Desert Phone. Back in 1999 a national news network reported the story, and the desert phone began to ring almost non-stop from callers worldwide.
Sadly, one day in 2000, the phone was removed because of the large number of people attempting to visit the phone in person. Two women drove from New York to visit the phone. This was causing too much damage to the environment and could not be tolerated.
The physical hold in your hand desert phone no longer exists, but the phone number has been resurrected. You can still call 760.733.9969 and you will be redirected to a conference call. Jered Morgan is who has resurrected the phone number. It may be when you enter the conference call someone may be waiting to talk with you or maybe you will just hear your own voice as if you were out in the desert.
Why did the desert phone go viral with people all over the world calling the number? There have been a number of suggestions made. All of the suggestions are plausible since we as human beings are capable of doing about anything. One man heard about it from his pet skunk email list and said he was just crazy enough to call the number.
A sociologist suggests a lot of people have nothing to do and calls it the “get-a-life” factor. Others say they want to find out what it is like living in such a remote area totally different from anything they have known. Those are just a few of the theories.
Here’s my theory: Calling a phone booth in the middle of nowhere is a way of escape. A moment of escape from the crowded busy world in which so many live, to a world of unhurried days and isolation. It is an escape to a world where the only sounds heard are those of the few varmints you encounter or the sounds you make yourself. Peace. Escape from the pressures of life to another world, another place. It is a search for something better, for something missing in their lives. “And the way of peace they have not known (Romans 3:17).”
When you make the call to the desert phone now and enter the conference call there may be no one ready to talk with you. When there was an actual phone in the desert, some would call the number the hours trying to get through, because they would receive a constant busy signal. However, you can place a call to an even better place called Heaven where the line is never busy and there is always someone there to listen to your call. Simply by bowing your head, and closing your eyes and begin to pray, “Dear Father in Heaven….”
In the midst of the pressures of life, travel to another world, and allow your Heavenly Father to touch your life with Peace.