Tag Archives: enemy

We live in it, under it, over it, around it, through ourselves, through others, sometimes even through our faith and in our calling. The enemy’s trifecta: Guilt, Shame & Reproach.

I’ve always been fascinated by the strength, agility and shear speed of thoroughbred race horses. Averaging 16 hands (64 inches) with a typical weight of nearly 1,200 lbs. The thing that amazes me the most is their ability to maintain a speed of roughly 40 mph for over a mile on those puny little ankles and hooves. The highest race speed recorded over two furlongs is 70.76 km/h (43.97 mph) and was achieved by Winning Brew at the Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania on May 14, 2008. Winning Brew covered the quarter-mile (402 m, two furlongs) in 20.57 sec. She was a two year old filly thoroughbred.

In horse racing a trifecta is a parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third. Not an easy thing to do. With eight horses in a race that means there’s 336 possible permutations. That’s without taking into consideration the ability of each racehorse, track conditions, wind velocity and a whole host of other factors.

Here’s the thing, how many permutations do we run through each day with the combination of guilt, shame and reproach at our side. The answer? As many as the enemy can toss our way.
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