Run "the race marked out for us" - Hebrews 12:1

One of the first things that cross-country runners (both high school and college) do when they arrive at a meet is to run the course.  I know, some of you are thinking, "run BEFORE you race?"  I can't say that I was overly fond of these warm-up runs but they served an important purpose.  Not only did they get our bodies ready for the intensity of the race, but they allowed us to see the actual course itself.  It isn't that necessary to study the course if you plan on trailing the main pack, you can just follow them.  But, if you plan on trying to lead the pack you'd better know which way to go.  In most cases, there are clues already on the course (usually a white painted line in the grass and colored flags at corners and turns), and most of the time we were provided with crude maps detailing the course, but you don't want to come to a crossroad at full speed and have to decide which way to go on the fly.  When I was in H.S. it was customary for members of the home team to guide the visitors through the course and explain any unusual twists or turns.
How does any of this apply to what Hebrews is telling us about running the race of Christian faith?  We have a "great cloud of witnesses", the heroes of the faith from chapter 11, to show us the path that we should follow, and we have contemporary heroes in the faith who we can look to for inspiration and guidance (in my life, my grandmother, Pastor Frank, Andy Smith, Dr. Mayers, my dad, and many others).  We also have an amazing guidebook in God's Word to help us through the unexpected twists and turns of life.
This may all seem a bit dramatic but an example from my days in the middle school cross-country team applies here.  We were running at Central Montcalm (a big race where we ran only against our own grade instead of 7th and 8th together) and one of my teammates, now the wife of a good friend and fellow basketball player, shot out of the starting line to an early lead.  This was somewhat unusual for her, but on this day she was clearly leading the race.  There was only one problem with this scenario, she didn't know where she was going.  When she came to a crossroad in the course she went the wrong way and EVERYONE in the pack followed her.  The race officials scrambled to figure out where to direct the pack to try to get them to run a distance close to what was intended.  In the end her mistake was simply a humorous story because it was just a middle school race and not a life changing decision.

If you want to run the race of faith from the front of the pack, you'd better pay attention to course that has been marked out for you.