In May 2002, Leonardo Diaz, a Colombian hiker, decided to do some serious mountain climbing with friends. Their goal was to reach the summit of the Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano in the Andes.

On the second day of the climb, a major blizzard hit. Diaz lost sight of his friends and became separated from them. Although not initially worried, the novice climber soon began to run out of rations and suffer from the bitter cold.

Although he had his cell phone in his backpack, his pre-paid minutes had already expired. With no way to signal for help, Diaz realized he was not going to make it.

As he lay in the frigid snow preparing to die, his cell phone rang. It was a phone solicitor in Bogotá wanting to know if Diaz was interested in purchasing more minutes!

"We called him to remind him that his cell phone was out of minutes," said Maria del Pilar Bastos of Bell South. "He said it was the work of an angel, because he was lost in the Andes."

Diaz described his location to the caller and asked that his family be notified so they could dispatch a rescue team.

The Bell South operators, who could tell from the sound of his voice that hypothermia had already begun to set in, called Diaz every 30 minutes to keep him awake and to maintain his hope of survival. Seven hours later, rescuers arrived.

What ordinarily might have been perceived as a nuisance call saved his life. Until we come to Jesus Christ, we often react to God's call on our heart as though God were an unwanted telemarketer. Many of us only welcome his call to come to him when we are in desperate need.