Family Talk

Dr. James Dobson: You're listening to Family Talk, the Radio Broadcasting Division of the James Dobson Family Institute. I am that James Dobson, and I'm so pleased that you've joined us today.

Gary Bauer: Well folks, welcome back to Family Talk. I'm Gary Bauer, and as you know, we've been talking to Al Kason of Bud's Best Cookies, and he's been telling us an incredible story about what he went through in life, the mistakes that were made, but also the great redeeming power of Jesus Christ. So let's get right back into it, Al. Welcome back.

Al Cason: I'm glad to be back. Thank you, Gary.

Gary Bauer: Al, you mentioned uh tough love. As I recall, there was a point where your parents actually called law enforcement to do a wellness check on you, presumably because they hadn't heard anything. Tell us about that and and what what that led to.

Al Cason: Yes, sir. Well Gary, you know, we um and I'll I'll kind of go through it quickly, but um you know, after that first rehab, I came back work for a couple of years. Um my family had an intervention on me uh where all the family was over, uh came over to the house, and they all read the letters, and we went through all that. It was very emotional. They had a an interventionist there, of course, and uh and uh agreed to go and went off to Betty Ford for for 4 weeks. Again, came back from there another maybe 60 days max I was using again.

Uh but I went to I ended up uh you know, kind of bottoming out again at work, maxed out all the credit cards, really was in a mess, just didn't have any other way to turn around, and you know, went wanted to my father that uh you know, I was only son and and and you know, and he he wanted to try to help me, wanted to try to fix it, and he's like, look, you know, you need to go to rehab again, and you know, I'll help you. I'll I'll I'll get all this mess cleared up for you, but you know, you've got to go get better.

And so I went off to uh to Crossroads in Antigua to Eric Clapton's rehab. And while it was very good and it really it really helped, um I came back and my son's uh mother um you know, she was kind of rolling her way, and I was trying to stay sober. And so uh you know, I started drinking non-alcoholic beer, which you know, I learned you can't romanticize the addiction, no matter. You you can't lean into it in any kind of way. And you know, I've also tried Gary, you know, just marijuana or just pills or just you know, drinking or just you know, you cannot feed this thing in any way or it it it it's alive and well.

It is a an absolute monster. And so

Gary Bauer: Yes. It's a monster.

Al Cason: you know, after going across roads and having this other experience, so that's three inpatient rehabs that I've been to gapped about 2 years. Uh my father finally fired me for the last time. And uh it was really bad. I mean, I I had to I literally had to drink during the day. The functioning alcoholic thing wasn't working anymore. I mean, I'd have to leave and go drink and come back uh just to get by. I was having to do coke just to wake me up. Um and I mean, it was really out of hand. And he fired me this last time.

And when he did, you know, I I felt bad for myself, poor me, you know, how you know, bad it is, you know, my my wife or my ex-wife had left with my son. And it was just me and my addiction, no job, no nothing. And Gary, I just I just piled on. I mean, this was like, okay, you know, this is my opportunity to just really lean into this thing now. And for about a year, day and night. I mean, I would be up for 5 6 days at a time and uh and and finally fall asleep.

And when I would fall asleep and and I came back to you know, it it it was it was my dog nudging me that got me up, you know. And uh and this dog was just a faithful dog and a friend to me. And you know, the cocaine hysteria, the the way it can do in your mind and the paranoia and the things caused some really crazy things, you know, to happen um you know, to me uh along the way uh that were that were really horrific in in in ways that you know, looking back, I'm like, you know, God, I I know you saved me over and over.

I know. I mean, because you know, I I I like guns, and I had a lot of guns in my home. And you know, I mean, I'd wake up and I'd have a you know, cocked uh 357 right under my pillow because I was afraid somebody was coming in. And in that kind of craze, I could have easily shot myself or anything else. Gary, there were nights that I came back that I'd passed out and I'd have some uh uh a woman in my house that I had no idea who she was, didn't know where she came from, and had moved in with me when I was in a blackout.

And um you know, I mean, this happened time after time. And uh you know, I mean, I could have come to and everything could have been gone out of my home. I mean, I could have been you know, no telling they could have killed me. I mean, you know, all the places I mean, I'd wake up in these these drug houses on the other side of of of Birmingham, uh you know, places that I had no business being. And and there's no doubt that that God was with me and protected me because of my parents' faithfulness and their prayers and and what they learned all these years uh you know, from from Brother Dobson.

And uh you know, it's just it was unbelievable. And you know, and so you know, this really progressed to a point that all the things that you say you do in addiction that you would never do, you start doing. And you know, the people that were coming in and out of my house, they were uh you know, I mean, hey uh cocaine, you know, hey you can cook it, it's free basing cocaine. Well, the next thing you know, you're you're you've got a crack problem. Uh you know, the next thing you know, you've got a needle in your arm.

And uh and that was something that I always uh was against is you know, that was just a very violent way to get high. And I never would do that. And that that's really where I was at the very end when my my parents, especially my mother, uh had to get the police to come and intervene because she had seen me about a week before. And uh and she knew I was in really bad shape. I mean, she knew I was down. I'm I'm 6 ft 4. I usually weigh about 250. I was down to about 160 lbs.

And uh and she knew that that I I didn't have long. And a friend of mine that I had really partied with and and really was close to over the years had come and spent the night with me. And when he saw that I was doing things above and beyond the the crack and the and the and the cocaine and the the other pills and things that I was doing and I gotten in the IV drugs, he left that next morning and he came over to our plant and he asked to see my parents. And uh and and they they weren't here, but they came in to see him.

And he just cried. He cried to them. He said, if you do don't do something for my friend, he is going to die. He is I mean, and and he was not one that would say anything. I mean, he was just compelled by the Lord to just come clean and tell them, you know. And so my mother got in touch with the uh Shelby County Sheriff's Office and asked them to come and do a wellness check. And if there was reason, you know, for them to arrest me, that I would be safer arrested than than than what was going to happen with me.

And and so uh they came to the house. I was in you know, horrible condition. Uh I had track marks on my arm. They could see it when I walked outside. And uh and I wouldn't let them in. And they told me they said, you won't like it if we come back. You know, and and Gary, this this really was was something that was I I I know God had a hand in this. You know, I was like, well, I've got to leave. I 've got to get my stuff and get out. And somebody was living with me at the time.

And went and did some drugs that uh would have normally gotten you up and uh and really you know, spiked you up and you'd be uh wake enough to leave. Well, I passed out for about 4 hours, okay. When I came to, there was knocking on the front door. When I staggered to the door and opened the door, it was the Shelby County Drug Task Force. And they grabbed me off that front porch and threw me face down in my yard with handcuffs behind my back. And they stormed that house. And and there was about I I'm guessing 8 or 10 agents or they're part of that unit that went through, flipped everything, went through, tore the house apart trying to get as many things as they could on me.

And they ended up arresting me with uh for two felonies and two misdemeanors that they uh that they held and they wouldn't uh put a bond on me because I had a some friends that uh that might have bonded me out. And uh and so they they didn't set a bond. They held me until I would end up for 26 days. I was locked up in the Shelby County jail until I was willing to sign over power of attorney to my parents and uh agree to go to this rehab. And um and so after 26 days, uh they had an interventionist.

They they didn't even want my family to see me because I might be able to talk them out of it somehow.

Gary Bauer: Yes.

Al Cason: But backing up, this this is really uh something. The the next day after I was arrested, as bad as I I looked and I was in jail, that was the first day uh like was a Friday. And they had to got kind of arraign me. And uh and when I went into the courtroom, I was in shackles. My hands were handcuffed. My feet were shackled. And I walked in with the rest of the the the inmates. And my father was in that courtroom along with my sister and my mother. And when he saw me and I I don't know what had happened, but Gary, I guess I I had used a a clipper and shaved my hair about 2 days before cuz it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Gary Bauer: Yeah.

Al Cason: And uh and and and when I would look in that mirror, Gary, I didn't even recognize who I was, not physically, but I did not I did not know who I was. I was in such a dark place. And you know, and and when I would come to these days, you know, I would wonder you know, I I I I I couldn't even imagine coming back to after all that I'd been doing. And uh and it was it was crazy. But when we were in that courtroom, my father saw me when they said my name and I stepped out.

And he just wailed. Just I mean, I'll never forget the the wail scream cry that he let out in that courtroom when he saw me. And they had to take him out. And uh and the judge had arraigned me. And part of what my parents had tried to do at this actual court was have me work uh you know, somewhere along the the lines of one of the rehabs I'd gotten out of. They had had me work in this drug court there so I could see what drugs did to people and uh and the consequences.

And even though I'd done that for about a year, you know, here I am

Gary Bauer: Yeah.

Al Cason: arrested back in front of the judge that was the judge that oversaw this when I was even there working many years before.

Gary Bauer: Huh.

Al Cason: And uh you know, I worked while I was still working at you know, for my father, but he had me go do that in the afternoon. So I would you know, they they tried everything they could. They had preachers you know, come in my office and pray with me. I mean, you name it, they tried it, okay, along along the way.

Gary Bauer: Neither your your earthly father neither your earthly father or your father in heaven gave up on you, Al, right? Or you wouldn't be here today.

Al Cason: They they absolutely they absolutely did not. And you know, with that um you know, after 26 days, I agreed to go to this long-term uh rehab. And uh and it was in uh Blairstown, New Jersey. And I was there, Gary. I was there for 14 months. I had to come out of there. And they held the charges over my head. So if I if I left, the charges would stick and I would get arrested. And uh but while I was there, I found out I mean, I really thought I was about to leave, that my parents were going to get me out or my dad was going to get me out.

And I found out that my son's mother uh had had some problems. And And my son had been awarded temporary custody to his great aunt on on her side. And so while I felt like and they were seeing him every other weekend and they had been paying child support for me and they had been doing all these things. Well, at that point that you know, neither his mother or his father were there for him. And Gary, out of all that I'd been through, I really hadn't had a bottom until then. And when that crashed down on me about my son being awarded to his great aunt while I'm locked up, she's not around, um you know, I I just felt helpless.

And I just you know, I just started crying. I mean, I just I broke. You know, after all the other things, all the other bad things, right all you name it, and I went through it, okay. But that point right there is when I hit my knees and I said, God, I need you. You know, I guess somewhere you want me to be. I surrender this to you. And that's when things started changing, Gary. And that's when that's when it took a turn. And it still took time. You know, you know, you have to break you know, faith can move a mountain, but bring the shovel.

I had to really do the I had to do the work at that point. And I had to really get my relationship back with my father that you know, my heavenly father that had always been there. And you know, nothing became more clear to me over that period of time that there is no doubt that that God spared me so many times through this. I mean, you know, they even said it when I was in the jail and they were having to give me meds so with the DTs that I was going through. Held me in solitary for 3 weeks.

The last week I was in general population, but they had to give me stuff to bring me down. And I would shake in that cell. I was shaking and and and going through I mean, you you you know what DTs can be.

Gary Bauer: Yes. Yeah, I saw my father go through that and it's horrifying.

Al Cason: And I went through all three that and it's horrifying.

Gary Bauer: It's horrifying.

Al Cason: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you feel like you're out of your mind.

Gary Bauer: So Al, I mean, we all know the biblical story of the prodigal son, but you're after all of that, I guess you know, listening to you, we're probably talking about a decade. But your parents welcomed you back as the prodigal son, right? As far as the responsibilities they were willing to entrust with you again in the company and and so forth. And so tell us a little bit about that and you know, people are wondering what you look like now. I I got the advantage of looking at you, Al. And it's hard to believe that you went through all these things because you are obviously a a successful businessman and you've built uh a new life and you're happily married.

And so let's end on that high note of what both the love of your parents and the love of Jesus was able to do for you.

Al Cason: Absolutely. And when I was in that long-term rehab, I realized just how it affected my family. And it's a family thing, too. And I hurt them. And you know, all the I'm not doing it or I'm going to get well or all this, you know, all those things. You know, the only way you can really you have to live in a mend, okay. You can't just say it. You have to live it. And by me living the right way and living for for God and doing the things that I need to do, you know, sometimes it's just a day at a time, Gary, but you know, God's gotten me uh 21 years of sobriety now.

And when I got back home and uh and I I had to I had to go through an outpatient rehab for 30 days. I had to go through drug court for 8 months. After I did that, so I was in treatment of some sort for over 2 and 1/2 a little over 2 years. And when I got back, Dad told me, he said, Al, he goes, I want you to come back and I'm putting you back in the role that you left in. And I said, Dad, you know, I'm I am not I'm not worthy of that.

And he said, no, you're my son and yes, you are. You know, God heard our prayers and he pulled you through. And I said, well, Dad, I can never repay you for what you've done for me. But what I can do is allow you to age gracefully doing what you love. And so every day that I'm here, I try to make decisions like I think he would want. I try to uh to give back and uh and you know, and everyone here, you know, he's our CEO still, but you know, even though he lets me make the daily decisions, Gary, I let everyone think that you know, it's it's him.

And uh and and so when he walks through, they they they love seeing him. And uh he's 89 and and I tell you what, you know, he and I were talking over the weekend about you know, what he does for the Christian school still and the ties he pays to to his church and the things that he does. You know, I mean, you know, he he's never and he and my mother, I'll call him and check on him several times a day if we're not over there. And uh and and they're they're in their Bible and they're praying, you know.

My mother had literally through this bad part of my life, she prayed so much for me, Gary, that she literally in the sunroom of their house wore the carpet out. You can tell where her knees were on that carpet praying for me, pleading with God to to spare my life. And there's no doubt that he did. You know, and and by me being sober, I'm at the love of my life, Jennifer. She and I will be have been will be married 13 years in January. Uh which after which after four other marriages is a milestone.

Uh you know, that's what alcohol that's what alcohol does and drugs do. Uh you know, it just tears things apart. And uh but I know you know, just like the prodigal son and he was welcome back and and and and and God loved him and he saw what true forgiveness was. I see what true forgiveness is from the father, from my heavenly father that would be so gracious to me, someone that is so undeserving, to give me the opportunities to have uh a wife like Jennifer. I mean, just precious. And two stepsons that are wonderful.

He's totally restored the relationship that I have my son Buddy that uh that had to had to see this growing up and and you know, and had to be without his dad out of his life for so many years and so much time. And uh and I've got two wonderful grandsons, Noah and Bodhi. And we've got a granddaughter on the way. And uh and what a blessing that is. What a blessing that he's been able to let me witness to some people here in our cookie factory. You know, we give jobs to some folks that might not get them other places because I tell them, we're in the redemption business.

And where other people where Amazon might not give them a second thought or some of these other big companies down the road, we do. And why? Because of what God's done for me. And we try to help everybody as much as we can. We use people out of the the centers and you know, uh uh the sober houses and things. We really try because I know what God did for me. And I want to try to give back uh as much as I can to help others uh the way God so willingly helped me in my life.

Gary Bauer: Well Al, it is uh it's an incredible story and uh your your willingness to be uh so open about it. You know, a lot of people would uh just say, man, I don't want anybody to find out about that. That's the past. I just want him to see me now. Well, you're obviously successful now and you're fulfilling your uh your father's uh business and it's still successful. You've built a new family. Only God knows what your children and grandchildren will end up accomplishing. So um I I know Dr. Dobson's heard this story now and uh and smiling, too, from where he is.

And maybe we'll all get together there someday with him and talk about all of it, right? But Al, thank you for coming on Family Talk and sharing your story. And uh I'm sure it's an inspiration. And for those of you who are listening, you know, if you've done something and uh you think, oh God could never forget that or you've harmed somebody or you uh failed in a marriage or you messed up uh with your children, there is nothing that God can't forgive if you will welcome Jesus into your heart. And Al, you're a living example of that.

God bless you. I hope you're uh you continue to thrive and your business continues to sell uh countless cookies to bring people a little bit of joy.

Al Cason: Thank you so much.

Roger Marsh: Well, what a powerful reminder that no life is beyond redemption. Al Kason reached a place where addiction had taken nearly everything from him, his career, his relationships, his freedom. But God had not abandoned him. As you've been listening to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk today, you've heard the conclusion of Gary Bauer's conversation with Al Kason, president and COO of Bud's Best Cookies. If you missed either part of this conversation, be sure to listen again or share Al's testimony with someone who needs encouragement. You can find that at drjamesdobson.org. And by the way, Bud's Best Cookies are absolutely delicious.

I can't recommend them enough. Here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we believe families need trusted voices now more than ever before, voices grounded in scripture, committed to truth, and unafraid to speak boldly in the culture. Family Talk brings those voices to millions of listeners each and every day. And it reaches the air because friends like you choose to partner with us. We invite you to join our team. Your gift helps us preserve and promote God's design for the family, to introduce people to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to defend the sanctity of human life and religious freedom.

Together, we can carry Dr. Dobson's dynamic legacy forward for generations to come. To make a tax-deductible donation online, go to our secure website, drjamesdobson.org. That's drjamesdobson.org. You can also speak with a member of our constituent care team. That number is 877-732-6825. That's 877-732-6825. Or you can send your donation through the US Postal Service. Our ministry mailing address is the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, PO Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Well, I'm Roger Marsh. And on behalf of all of us here at Family Talk and the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, thanks so much for listening today.

Be sure to join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, the voice you trust for the family you love. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. With today's Dr. Dobson minute, here's Dr. James Dobson.

Dr. James Dobson: Fatigue and time pressure can undermine even the healthiest of marriages. How can a man and woman communicate with each other when they're too worn out to even talk? How can they take walks in the rain or sit by a fire when they face the tyranny of an unfinished to-do list? When asked these kinds of questions, most people will tell you that the pressures they feel today are the result of temporary circumstances. Unfortunately, these short-term pressures have a way of becoming sandwiched back-to-back. We dilute ourselves into believing that circumstances have forced us to work too hard for a short period of time when in fact, we're driven from within.

In our fast-paced society, what many of us really need is to take more time for the loving relationships with spouses and children and friends that give life meaning.

Roger Marsh: For more information, visit drdobsonminute.org. This is Roger Marsh. Since 2010, the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute has been standing firm on these three pillars, faith, family, and freedom. We believe these foundations are essential for society to thrive and families to flourish. Every day here on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk, we reach millions of listeners through the airwaves and online with biblical truth and practical guidelines. Your partnership makes it possible to continue this important work in a culture that opposes Christian values. So from all of us here at the JDFI, thanks so much for your prayers and your continued support.