Religion: A Pastor Ponders

The Re-Mark

By Pastor William Jenkins

May 8, 2007

I remember Max Cole. Max was retired from a career with the railroad in Marshall, Texas. His avocation was western artist. Max Cole looked more like a cowboy than a worker on the railroad. He was known around the rail yards of East Texas as “The Railroad Rembrandt” because of the western scenes he painted inside the passenger cars.

His proudest achievement was when he convinced the Indian Chief Quanah Parker to sit for a portrait. Parker had refused this request from other artists. He and Max became good friends.

Shortly after we met, Max took my family into his studio to select prints of his work. (We could not afford the originals.) As we made our selections Max would take them and quietly sketch on the bottom margin of each one. He drew a stagecoach, an armadillo, a longhorn steer and a cactus with mountains in the background. When I asked what he was doing he said he was giving each print a “re-mark.” He explained that a “re-mark” said to the owner that the artist has touched this work. He also said it increased the value of the print. Each time we see our collection of Max’s paintings we also see the re-mark and remember the artist.

This concept of the “re-mark” is intriguing, especially in the spiritual context. Consider that we are created in God’s image; consider again that we have ruined that image through our sins; consider further that God comes in Christ to forgive us and restore His image within us.

The apostle Paul says in II Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone be in Christ they are a new creation; old things have passed away and all things have become new.” Consider the “re-mark”, the Artist has touched His work and its value has increased.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

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