PART 2: 66 Year Old Vanskie Montaie Overcomes Addiction and Graduates High School

JACKSON, Tn.-Graduating high school is viewed by many as a major milestone. It certainly wasn’t easy for 66-year-old Vanskie Montaie to get to this day. On his journey to getting his diploma he faced many challenges. abandonment and abuse as a child led him to a decade of drug addiction, homelessness, and depression.

“I used to sleep in abandoned buildings, sleep in dumpsters, I used to eat old, dirty hamburgers from different restaurants and everything. For three years I've done this. I was a lost man and didn't know it,” said Vanskie Montaie

This is Vanskie Montaie’s redemption story. It was on October 25th,1989 that his life forever. He was staying at a salvation army where he read the bible for the first time.

“I looked down and it read: He said, if you believe in your heart, Jesus is lord, and God raised him from the grave, you are saved. and I believed it. So much feeling came over me. I started crying at the age of 33 and I woke up everybody in the facility. I woke up and everybody in the facility never felt clean. I never felt loved like this.”

Vanskie finally made the decision to be drug free, but he struggled along the way. Eventually, he still managed to get back on track. He took control and began the journey to achieving his biggest goal yet: graduating from high school.

“But the feeling that I got when the commissioner, Gary Dayton, gave me my diploma read that it felt like I was back at 18 years old and that's just what it was. I said thank you, Jesus.”

Vanskie Montaie now has a beautiful wife and family of his own and even plans to go to college soon. He's currently carrying out his own ministry at the Jackson Restoration Center, where he helps others find Christ and overcome drug addiction. Vanskie also wrote his autobiography and hopes that his story inspires people to make that positive change in their life and follow their dreams.