The story tells of two friends

who were walking

through a desert.

At some point of the

journey they had an

argument, and one friend

slapped the other

in the face.

The one who got slapped

was hurt, but without

saying a word,

wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND

SLAPPED ME IN MY FACE ..

They kept on walking

until they found an oasis,

where they decided

to take a bath.

The one who had been

slapped got stuck in the

mire and started drowning,

but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from

near drowning,

he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND

SAVED MY LIFE.

***********************

The friend who had slapped

and saved his best friend

asked him, "After I hurt you,

you wrote in the sand and now,

you write on the stone, why?"

The other friend replied

"When someone hurts us

we should write it down

in sand where winds of

forgiveness can erase it away.

But, when someone does

something good for us,

we must engrave it in stone

where no wind

can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE

YOUR HURTS IN

SAND AND TO

CARVE YOUR

BENEFITS IN STONE!!!

They say it takes a

minute to find a special

person, an hour to

appreciate them, a day

to love them, but then

an entire life

to forget them.

" Happiness is not something you find,

it's something you create....

Life is too Short To Waste Time Hating Someone.

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Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week-end,

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

The Sign

The blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, "I'm blind; please help." There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote what you said, but in a different way." I wrote: "This day is beautiful; sadly I cannot see it". Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign communicated that the onlookers are so lucky that they are not blind and can enjoy the beauty of the day. Should we be surprised that the second sign really talked? Ø Be thankful for what you have. Ø Be creative; be innovative; think differently but positively. Ø When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Ø Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Ø The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. Even more beautiful, is knowing that you are the reason for it! Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week, Love, Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

Bypass surgery might be history soon...

In a groundbreaking discovery that may eventually render bypass surgery history, researchers at Tel Aviv University have shown that an injected protein can regrow blood vessels in the human heart.

In heart disease, blood vessels are either clogged or die off, starving the heart of oxygen and leaving it highly susceptible to a cardiac attack.

Dr. Britta Hardy of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine and her team of researchers have developed a protein-based injection that when delivered straight to muscles in the body, sparks the regrowth of tiny blood vessels.

The new vessels in the heart could give millions of people around the world a new lease of life.

"The biotechnology behind our human-based protein therapy is very complicated, but the goal is simple and the solution is straightforward. We intend to inject our drug locally to heal any oxygen-starved tissue. So far in animal models, we've seen no side effects and no inflammation following our injection of the drug into the legs. The growth of new blood vessels happens within a few weeks, showing improved blood circulation," said Hardy.

The protein solution can also be added as a coating to a stent. Usually, the implantation of a stent is accompanied by a high risk for blood clots, which necessitates the use of blood thinners.

"We could coat a stent with our peptide, attracting endothelial stem cells to form a film on the surface of the stent. These endothelial cells on the stent would eliminate the need for taking the blood thinners that prevent blood clots from forming," said Hardy.

If investment goals are met, the researchers are hoping that toxicity studies and Phase I trials could be complete within two years.

The researchers began the study for preventing leg amputations, positing that proteins from the human body could be used to trigger the growth of new blood vessels.

Hardy started by studying a library of peptides and testing them in the laboratory and later confirmed initial results.

She then took some of the isolated and synthesized peptides and tested them in diabetic mice whose legs were in the process of dying.

Although diabetes is known to decrease blood circulation, Hardy found that her therapy reversed the decrease.

"Within a short time we saw the formation of capillaries and tiny blood vessels. After three weeks, they had grown and merged together with the rest of the circulatory system," she said.

In mice with limited blood circulation, she was able to completely restore blood vessels and save their legs.

It was then a short step to studying the applicability of the research to cardiac patients.

"It''s pretty obvious if there is regrowth or not... our technology promises to regrow blood vessels like a net, and a heart that grows more blood vessels becomes stronger. It's now imaginable that, in the distant future, peptide injections may be able to replace bypass surgeries," concluded Hardy.

The study has been published in Biochemical Pharmacology.

Enjoy the rest of your week..

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

Creation's debate

Entering the ongoing debate between faith and science, renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking claims that modern physics has now proved that God played no role in the creation of the universe.

In a new book -- "The Grand Design" co-written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow -- the theoretical physicist sets out to demolish Sir Issac Newton's claim that an "intelligent and powerful Being" must have shaped the universe, which he believed could not have emerged from chaos. Hawking and Mlodinow rule out the possibility of divine intervention, saying that new theories have made the idea of a supernatural creator redundant.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," the pair write, in an extract published in London Times a fortnight ago. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going."

( British physicist Stephen Hawking, shown here at the World Science Festival in New York City this summer, says he's changed his mind about the role of God in the universe's creation).

"The Grand Design," which goes on sale next week, is a significant shift away from Hawking's previous comments on the divine. In his 1988 best-seller, "A Brief History of Time", he suggested that it was possible to believe in the concept of God as creator and also held a scientific view of the universe. "If we do discover a complete theory ... of why it is that we and the universe exist ... it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we would know the mind of God," he wrote.

And in a 2007 interview, he appeared to portray himself as an agnostic. "I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science," he told the BBC. "The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws."

Hawking now argues that Newton's assertion that the laws of nature cannot alone explain the existence of life and the universe started to fall apart in 1992, when astronomers discovered the first extra-solar planets (planets beyond our own solar system) orbiting other sunlike stars.

"That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions -- the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass, far less remarkable, and far less a compelling evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings," he writes. Hawking believes that other universes, as well as other solar systems, are also likely to exist. But if God's purpose was to create mankind, he wonders, why would He make these out-of-reach worlds?

Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and a high-profile atheist, welcomed the book, telling the Times that Hawking had developed a theory of Darwinism for the entirety of nature, not simply the creatures that live within it. "That's exactly what he's saying," Dawkins told the paper. "I know nothing of the details of physics, but I had always assumed the same thing."

However, religious commentators have criticized Hawking's theorizing, saying he can never hope to explain what is essentially unexplainable.

"If all the physical laws had been explained and proved -- which is a million miles from the case -- our understanding of the actions of God would not be one whit greater: his existence and his actions are of a different order," writes Quentin de la Bedoyere, science editor of the U.K.'s Catholic Herald newspaper. "Most particularly it would not touch the question of how something existing comes out from nothing. That is a question which science cannot answer, and will never answer, because nothingness is not within its domain. ... Neither [Hawking], nor you, nor I will ever explain creation, except through faith."

Give a thought to these different perspectives..

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week.

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

Prayer of Faith

I have sent this to you before...

But there's no harm in reading it again.

It reminds us for the need to pray with faith...
Here I'm only reproducing a beautiful story written by a doctor who was working in South Africa.

"One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all my efforts, she died leaving us

a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We had difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).

We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student-midwife went for a box and cotton wool that the baby could be wrapped in.

Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber explodes easily in tropical climate). And it was our last hot water bottle! As in the West, it is no good crying over spilt milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

"Alright," I said, "put the baby as near to the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did on most days, I went to pray with the orphanage-children who chose to gather with me...I gave the youngsters various suggestions to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle and that the probability of the baby dying if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister,crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, a ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please,God" she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so

please send it this afternoon."

While I gasped at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was puzzled. Could I honestly say, "Amen"? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh! yes, I know that He can do everything, so the Holy Bible say... But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer to this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years but had never received a parcel from home.

However, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put a hot water bottle therein? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.

By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the ... could it really be? I grasped and pulled it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle.

I burst into tears... I had not asked anybody to send it.

That was Ruth who asked God for it and she was in the front row of the children.

She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!"

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly.

Her eyes shone! She had never doubted, not even for a sec!

Looking up at me, she asked,

"Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been in transit for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday School Students, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle upto the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon'."

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"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24).

The above awesome prayer takes less than a minute.

Do it.
No strings attached.

Just send it on to whomsoever you want.

Prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of reward.

Let's continue praying for one another, with unparalleled faith in bringing blessings upon each other.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week-end,

Love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

Managing our social circle; limitations.

Despite some people having 5,000 friends on their Facebook profiles, they may not be able to remember or manage more than 150 pals in real life, an expert claims. Robin Dunbar, professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, falls back on a theory he developed in the 1990s, known as 'Dunbar's number,' to prove his point.

The theory claims that the size of our neocortex - the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language - limits us to managing a social circle of around 150 friends, no matter how sociable we are. The figure was reached after Dunbar checked how many people contacted at least once a year in a variety of societies, ranging from neolithic villages to modern office environments. Now he has applied his theory to studying social networking websites. And, he insists that the "Facebook effect" has hardly had an impact on the size of social groupings.

"The interesting thing is that you can have 1,500 friends but when you actually look at traffic on sites, you see people maintaining the same inner circle of around 150 people that we observe in the real world," Timesonline quoted Dunbar as saying. He added: "People obviously like the kudos of having hundreds of friends but the reality is that they're unlikely to be bigger than anyone else's.

"There is a big sex difference though ... girls are much better at maintaining relationships just by talking to each other. Boys need to do physical stuff together." Dunbar's study is expected to be published later this year.

Think about it while enjoying the rest of your weekend,

love,

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

You can opt to be young at seventy.

Most people feel insecure, both health-wise and security-wise after sixty, mainly because of the diminishing importance given to them and their opinions. But it does not have to be so, if we understand the basic principles of life and follow them scrupulously. Here are a few secrets to age gracefully and to make retirement life a pleasant one.

1. Never think, 'I am aged'. There are three types of aging- chronological, biological and psychological. The first is calculated based on our date of birth; the second is determined by our health conditions and the third is about how old you feel you are. While we do not have control over the first, we can take care of our biological health with good exercise and selective food habits. A positive attitude and optimistic thinking can reverse the psychological age.

2. Health is wealth: If we really love our family, taking good care of our health should be our priority. Thus you will not be a burden to them. Have an annual health check up and take the prescribed medicines regularly. Do take health insurance coverage.

3. Money is important: Money is essential for meeting the basic necessities of life, for buying good health and for earning respect and security. Do not spend beyond your means.You lived for your children all throughout your life and it is time to enjoy quality life with your partner. If your children are grateful and they take good care of you, you are blessed. But never take it for granted.

4. Relaxation and recreation: The most relaxing state is having a healthy religious attitude, sound sleep, music and laughter. Have faith in God, sleep well, love good music and enjoy the funny side of life.

5. Time is precious: it is almost like holding a horse's reins. When they are in your hands, you can control them. Imagine that you are born again every day. Yesterday is

a cancelled cheque. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is ready cash. Use it wisely and profitably. Live this very moment.

6. Change is the only permanent thing: We should accept change; it is inevitable. The only way to make sense of change is to join the dance. Change brings about many pleasant things. The old order changes yielding place to new ones; thats the law of nature.

7. Enlightened selfishness : All of us are basically selfish. Whatever we do, we expect something in return. We should definitely be grateful to those who stood by us in our need. But our focus should be on the satisfaction and happiness we derive by doing good to others, without expecting anything in return.

8. Forget and forgive : Do not be bothered unnecessarily about others' mistakes. Mistakes can happen. Accept a person as he is. For the sake of our own happiness, let us learn to forget and forgive.

9. Everything happens for a reason: Take life as it comes. Accept yourself as you are and also accept others for what they are. Everybody is unique and right in his own way. Know the territory of others- don't trespass.

10. Overcome the fear of death. We all know that one day we have to leave this world. Still we are afraid to die. We think that we are going to leave a big void but the truth is that nobody is irreplaceable. So... death, be not proud!!

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your week-end.

Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil

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