COLENBRANDERWHEN HE was eight years old Dirk Colenbrander told his parents that he wanted to become a missionary and that he wanted to work on God's ship. At the time young Dirk had never heard about the Doulos, Logos or Logos II.
Today, at 32 years old, he is fulfilling that dream as captain of the Logos II, a ship that visits many countries of the world to share the Christian gospel.
When he made that disclosure, his father who had heard about the Doulos and the Logos, got the mailing address of Logos and had his son write to the ship's management.
An officer of the Logos wrote back urging young Dirk to be faithful to Jesus Christ, do well in his school work and then it would be highly likely that he could work on the ship.
EXCITED
Two years after young Dirk wrote to the Logos, the ship came to his native Holland and he was beside himself with excitement. He got to go on board and he was even more convinced that a seafaring life for a missionary cause was what he wanted.
By his own acknowledgement, he was not getting good grades in high school. But his desire to go to nautical school influenced him to improve his grades. While in nautical school he was fortunate to babysit sometimes for someone who had served on Logos and the tales shared with young Dirk only served to get him more motivated in his studies as he continued to entertain the prospect of serving on board the Logos.
After leaving nautical college, he took a job with a commercial shipping line. He was acting on advice that he would be more useful to the Christian seagoing vessels if he had experience on a commercial ship.
While in secular employment, he began to give thought to a life partner. He thought to himself that he would not find a wife who was willing to live and work on a ship. But he rejoiced when he found such a person and they were married and are expecting their first child in April.
ASSUMED CAPTAINCY
The Logos sank in 1988 and was replaced by the Logos II in 1989. Dirk joined the Logos II crew as chief mate while his wife worked on the galley. After a few months he was asked to assume the captaincy. He has held that position for the past two years. He explains that though he is captain, he diligently involves himself in the evangelistic and other spiritual activities of Logos II. He, too, acknowledged that the Logos II crew loves to come to Jamaica as they love the warmth and hospitality of Jamaicans and the hunger they display for knowledge as evidenced when they shop for books.
