Growth Connections
Growth Connections is a bi-monthly news magazine to showcase various events and ministries and celebrate with members when they have big news to share
I Believe I Can Fly
By: Terrie Ellington
Lisa Junk, joined the Air Force Reserve in 2002, a few years after graduating from high school. She was drawn to the military because she saw it as a golden opportunity to obtain a free education.
Lisa is now a thirteen year veteran stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base, in Jacksonville AR, where she currently holds her highest rank as a Technical Sergeant. Her job title is Aviation Resource Manager, and in this role she works with an aircrew that transports wounded soldiers and cargo, she prepares flight orders, and inputs the aircrew flying hours and training hours into a database.
Although Lisa has never been deployed, her tenure of service spans across both peacetime and wartime. As a reservist, her main focus is homeland security, but she is always aware of the possibility of deployment.
Lisa accepted Christ as Lord and Savior at 18 years old and her faith has been her sustaining force during her years in service. She speaks of the power of prayer that helped her deal with the stress of having to coexist with strange people of different cultures, races, and nationalities in foreign places. Although she had no family or friends with her, she was a firm believer that God had a plan for her life, so she relied heavily on her faith to help her persevere.
Learning to survive in foreign lands with strange people has been one of her biggest life lessons, as she has learned to develop family ties and forge friendships out of the necessity of relating to people.
The one thing that affected her most while serving was, as a young airman she was occasionally forced to read the Air Force Creed in an auditorium filled with people. Experiencing all the nerves, jitters, and shaking all the way down to her combat boots; standing at that podium, she grew from a timid shy speaker to a bold and confident orator.
Her faith that sustained her and her experiences in the Air Force Reserve, have shaped her into the God fearing independent young woman that she is today.
