God Led Me Here: Healing Through Faith and Finding Purpose Through the Dog House Tour

Sometimes, as an overthinker, I find myself lost in the shuffle of the past, present, and future—all happening inside my mind at the same time.

Throughout my life, there have been moments when I felt as though I were breaking down on the inside. On the outside, however, I continued wearing a mask of patience, strength, hospitality, and confidence. I have often described myself as an extroverted introvert—whatever that truly means.

Masking for most of my 53 years has been exhausting.

My relationship with God has also gone back and forth throughout the years. There were moments when my faith was strong and other times when I attempted to handle everything by myself. Looking back now, I understand that even when I pulled away from God, He never pulled away from me.

Someone once told me, “If you do not take care of your health, your health will take care of you.”

That statement became painfully real.

For those who do not truly know me, you may not completely understand my story. You may not even care to know it, and that is okay. I write because writing helps my mental and physical health. It allows me to clear some of the deeper thoughts from this overactive brain of mine.

The past several years have tested me in ways I never expected. I endured heart surgery to repair a hole in my heart. I suffered three neurological events, including a third stroke in January 2026. I faced severe depression, anxiety, ADHD, financial pressure, damaged relationships, and the painful realization that I could no longer continue living as though everything was fine.

For years, I kept getting back up and immediately returning to work. I convinced myself that pushing forward was the same as healing.

It was not.

Eventually, I had to step away from coaching—the profession and calling that had shaped so much of my identity. After spending 25 years coaching and teaching young people, stepping away left an enormous hole in my life. I had spent decades helping players, students, coaches, and families. Suddenly, I was forced to ask a difficult question:

Who was I if I was no longer standing on the sideline?

I did not have an immediate answer.

Returning to Church

During the summer of 2026, my daughter Kat suggested that we attend church. We returned to the church that Stan and Shanan Schmidt had invited us to a couple of years earlier.

We kept going back.

Week by week, something inside me began to change.

I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I stopped allowing financial problems, health concerns, broken relationships, and uncertainty about the future to dominate every thought. Instead, I began concentrating on healing my heart, body, and soul.

Most importantly, I began placing my complete trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus had been present through every situation in my life—the victories, failures, heartbreak, illness, and moments when I felt completely alone. He was there during my playing and coaching days. He was there in the hospital rooms. He was there when my health forced me to step away from coaching. He was there during the nights when my thoughts became overwhelming.

The truth is that Christ never moved.

I did.

It took surrendering my worries, trusting Him through every circumstance, and finally admitting that I could not heal everything on my own before true healing could begin.

My journey is far from finished. I still overthink. I still struggle. I still experience difficult days, and I am still learning to remove the mask I wore for most of my life.

The difference is that I now understand I do not have to carry everything alone.

I am healing—not because every problem has disappeared, but because I have placed my heart, body, and soul into the hands of the One who was carrying me all along.

A New Purpose

Stepping away from coaching did not mean that God was finished using my experience.

It meant He was preparing me to use it differently.

The Dog House Tour and Dog Pound Radio began as a vision I had, but they have been God-led every step of the way. They have allowed me to remain connected to the game I love while giving student-athletes, coaches, parents, schools, and communities the positive recognition they deserve.

I may no longer be coaching from the sideline, but I am still serving young people.

Today, I am blessed to have several outstanding people helping bring this vision to life. Ryan Smith and Mike Ehlers work alongside me on Friday nights to provide our Hound Coverage. We have a growing list of parents who share our stories and help us reach more people. Coaches provide information and access, while student-athletes trust me to tell their stories and help them gain greater exposure.

Then there is me—the guy who loves to write, talk about football, build relationships, and celebrate young people.

The Dog House Tour has given me a way to use 25 years of coaching experience for a new purpose. I understand how much work these student-athletes put into their sport. I understand the sacrifices made by their coaches and families. I also know that many deserving young people never receive the recognition they have earned.

I want to help change that.

This mission is about much more than scores, statistics, wins, and losses. It is about telling stories. It is about recognizing hard work, strong character, perseverance, leadership, and commitment. It is about giving young people a platform and reminding them that what they do matters.

It is also about shining a positive light on the schools and communities supporting them.

Trusting God With the Future

I honestly do not know what the future holds for the Dog House Tour or Dog Pound Radio.

Providing this level of coverage requires a tremendous amount of time, travel, energy, and financial commitment. Keeping up with the broadcasts, interviews, articles, statistics, graphics, and social-media coverage on a timely basis is not always easy—especially while continuing to manage my health.

But I know God did not bring me this far without a purpose.

I trust Him completely with this journey, and I am excited to see where He leads it.

No matter how large the Dog House Tour becomes, the heart of the vision will never change. We will continue providing positive coverage of student-athletes, schools, communities, parents, coaches, and everyone else who makes high school athletics special.

We will continue celebrating the young people who deserve to have their stories told.

We will continue emphasizing character, culture, leadership, hard work, and community.

We will continue trying to be a positive voice in a world that often focuses too heavily on negativity.

God will lead me where I need to go. My responsibility is to trust Him, remain faithful to the mission, take care of the health He has given me, and keep moving forward one day at a time.

Helping the Mission Continue

If you feel led to support the Dog House Tour and Dog Pound Radio, donations may be made through Venmo:

@chuck-banks-2

Every contribution, regardless of the amount, helps cover the costs associated with traveling, broadcasting, writing, and sharing the positive stories of student-athletes and their communities.

I am deeply thankful for everyone who has watched, listened, shared an article, submitted statistics, sent photographs, granted an interview, made a donation, offered encouragement, or prayed for this mission.

You are all part of this journey.

The Dog House Tour may have started as a vision in my mind, but God placed its purpose in my heart.

I do not know exactly where this road will lead. I only know that I trust the One guiding every step.

Jesus Christ was there through it all. I simply had to trust Him enough to begin healing—and then follow Him into the next chapter of my life.