Welcome to another edition of Issues and Answers. 00:00:30.55\00:00:32.39 Today our guest is a real life 00:00:32.42\00:00:34.12 private investigator and a much 00:00:34.16\00:00:35.79 sought after motivational speaker who speaks all around 00:00:35.83\00:00:38.41 the country to businesses, churches and groups on how to 00:00:38.44\00:00:41.43 make better employees and how to make God as part of your 00:00:41.46\00:00:45.04 business plan. He has produced a cassette series which is 00:00:45.08\00:00:49.03 entitled The Secret of Success is the union of human effort 00:00:49.07\00:00:52.66 with divine power. Also he has a brochure that he sends out 00:00:52.69\00:00:56.38 and a newsletter. He has been featured in the national 00:00:56.42\00:01:00.04 publication Sharing Ideas which is a motivation publication. 00:01:00.08\00:01:04.80 He has also been featured in a youth publication titled Guide 00:01:04.84\00:01:09.37 where he includes a story of one of his famous cases in New 00:01:09.41\00:01:13.49 York City and he is also in the process of writing a book 00:01:13.53\00:01:17.45 entitled The Secret of Success. It is a real treat to have 00:01:17.49\00:01:21.58 Ashley Cobb with us today. Welcome to our program today 00:01:21.62\00:01:25.68 Ashley. It's a real pleasure to have you. 00:01:25.71\00:01:27.07 Thanks and it's good to be here. 00:01:27.10\00:01:28.41 Now the last time we were together you had shared with us 00:01:28.45\00:01:31.91 how you had been the son of a share cropper and at 18 you 00:01:31.94\00:01:35.33 moved to New York City and then you decided to include Christ in 00:01:35.37\00:01:39.69 your life. He blessed you to become an insurance claim 00:01:39.72\00:01:43.06 investigator. You went back to school and you became a private 00:01:43.10\00:01:46.96 investigator, became licensed. You had worked for the city of 00:01:46.99\00:01:50.82 New York. Now, what was your first case? 00:01:50.85\00:01:54.16 I knew you were going to ask 00:01:54.19\00:01:56.18 that question. Any time a 00:01:56.22\00:01:58.40 business person engages in 00:01:58.44\00:02:00.55 business everybody wants to know what was your first claim, what 00:02:00.59\00:02:06.06 was your first investigation? Now I had received my license 00:02:06.09\00:02:11.41 all in the necessity of going into the private investigation 00:02:11.45\00:02:16.09 business. Now at first I began at my kitchen table because 00:02:16.13\00:02:20.54 I wasn't able to rent an office. I really wasn't able to buy 00:02:20.58\00:02:25.41 business cards. But I managed some way to get some business 00:02:25.44\00:02:30.15 cards so when the telephone rang I would tell my wife and 00:02:30.18\00:02:34.82 children now this is the way you answer because that call might 00:02:34.86\00:02:40.06 be a business call. So I taught them how to answer the phone 00:02:40.10\00:02:43.92 but it became stress on the house, you know. You have to 00:02:43.96\00:02:47.71 pick up the phone and say Ashley Cobb, private eye and my wife 00:02:47.75\00:02:51.33 didn't like the idea of a private investigator bringing 00:02:51.36\00:02:54.76 cases to the house because some of them can be extremely 00:02:54.79\00:02:57.82 dangerous and some not so dangerous, but you never know 00:02:57.86\00:03:01.77 when the one is going to be dangerous. Okay, so I didn't 00:03:01.81\00:03:05.65 have any cases and I had talked about trusting God, you know, 00:03:05.69\00:03:10.29 depend upon God and he will supply all your needs, but now 00:03:10.32\00:03:17.17 here I was, no investigations, license and waiting on God to 00:03:17.20\00:03:24.07 answer my prayer. Now that is what you call faith. It's easy 00:03:24.11\00:03:30.13 to talk about faith until one has to experience it themself. 00:03:30.17\00:03:35.91 Then it becomes a real issue. But God was testing my faith. 00:03:35.95\00:03:40.89 I was able to get a few cases. What I would do, I would go down 00:03:40.92\00:03:45.83 to the courts and I would approach attorneys and I would 00:03:45.86\00:03:49.30 say look I'm a private investigator. I investigate 00:03:49.33\00:03:52.42 this, I investigate insurance claims, I investigate criminal 00:03:52.46\00:03:56.60 and civil cases and I would pick up a few. I was able to 00:03:56.63\00:04:03.77 save enough money to rent a small "2 x 4" office. I think 00:04:03.80\00:04:10.60 it was about 8 feet wide and about 15 feet long. At that time 00:04:10.63\00:04:16.48 I had approached a friend of mine and at that time she was 00:04:16.52\00:04:22.34 Congressman Shirley Chisholm. 00:04:22.37\00:04:28.17 Oh my. A personal friend of yours? What a great break. 00:04:28.21\00:04:32.39 She said now if you want to be a successful private 00:04:32.43\00:04:36.54 investigator you need to move from your house because you need 00:04:36.58\00:04:40.11 to be in a business environment. She said you need to have an 00:04:40.14\00:04:43.45 office not too far from my office She said why don't you go 00:04:43.48\00:04:47.13 and talk to the rental agent and maybe they'll find something. 00:04:47.16\00:04:51.14 Karen, that's just what I did. The rental agent took me around 00:04:51.17\00:04:55.56 this little office with nothing in it, just a bare floor with 00:04:55.60\00:05:02.20 a ceiling you know. It was okay but I thought about when Naaman 00:05:02.24\00:05:07.29 went down to see Elisha. He thought that he was supposed to 00:05:07.33\00:05:11.95 go to the king's palace to get healed but he was sent down to 00:05:11.99\00:05:17.09 Elisha's rather shack. So it was something like that. Well 00:05:17.12\00:05:21.17 I'm not saying it was that bad but it was a bare office, but 00:05:21.20\00:05:26.40 the security was good. We had enough money, about $160, we 00:05:26.43\00:05:30.87 put a piece of carpet on the floor. I worked a little more 00:05:30.91\00:05:36.14 and I was able to get one steel file cabinet, one desk and one 00:05:36.17\00:05:41.43 telephone, but no claims. Now I'm working by faith. But there 00:05:41.47\00:05:46.85 was one thing; I had promised God that whatever I received 00:05:46.88\00:05:53.87 he would get a tenth of it. I said you will get a tenth and 00:05:53.91\00:05:59.75 God saw my sincerity. I sent about 50 letters out, called 00:05:59.79\00:06:05.57 numerous companies and they said okay we don't have anything now. 00:06:05.60\00:06:10.62 You don't have to call us back, we'll call you. So one day I was 00:06:10.66\00:06:15.71 sitting at my desk and I always believe in having everything in 00:06:15.75\00:06:20.88 order. I received a telephone call and at the other end was 00:06:20.92\00:06:25.83 one of the vice presidents of an insurance claim company. 00:06:25.87\00:06:30.71 He says, Ashley why don't you come down to my office. I have a 00:06:30.75\00:06:35.84 case that we want to try you out on. See in business like we tell 00:06:35.88\00:06:40.94 a lot of young people, just because you're out of college 00:06:40.97\00:06:43.38 that doesn't mean that you go down and become the president 00:06:43.41\00:06:46.46 of AT&T or the New York Stock Exchange. You're going to have 00:06:46.49\00:06:50.71 to start at the bottom and do the dirty work. So, excited, I 00:06:50.75\00:06:54.22 got in my car and drove to New York City, I was driving from 00:06:54.25\00:06:58.36 from Brooklyn there. I parked and I went upstairs and this 00:06:58.40\00:07:02.43 handsome man sitting back there. See in the insurance executive 00:07:02.47\00:07:06.19 world these men wore tailor-made suits and they live the best of 00:07:06.23\00:07:10.69 life. They have paid their dues. As we say, they have paid the 00:07:10.73\00:07:15.40 piper, they paid the cost to be the boss. So he says well I have 00:07:15.43\00:07:20.07 a case for you here now and I thought that you could handle 00:07:20.10\00:07:23.22 it. I said, Yes sir, I certainly can. So he handed me the case. 00:07:23.25\00:07:26.33 He says well we have a guy up in Harlem, tough part of New 00:07:26.37\00:07:31.19 York City. Not all is but that part is. He says now we think 00:07:31.23\00:07:35.62 that he is working and receiving a check. He claims that he is 00:07:35.66\00:07:40.02 unable to work. We want you to go up there and conduct a 00:07:40.05\00:07:43.65 surveillance for two or three days and let us know what's 00:07:43.69\00:07:47.79 going on. Well, Karen, I took the case and next day I drove 00:07:47.83\00:07:53.03 up. Oh boy, it's a congested area and I knew that it was 00:07:53.07\00:07:57.22 dangerous for me to be spying on people. See being a private 00:07:57.26\00:08:00.82 investigator the worst thing that can happen is if you get 00:08:00.86\00:08:04.63 caught spying on someone. It's serious. You may not come out 00:08:04.66\00:08:08.68 alive and you may wind up in the hospital. But I was experienced 00:08:08.71\00:08:12.70 and clever enough not to get caught. So I conducted the 00:08:12.73\00:08:16.69 surveillance and that time the guy didn't go anywhere, so I 00:08:16.72\00:08:20.42 just had to finally make sure. So I used a pretext and went 00:08:20.45\00:08:24.77 us and talked to the guy. He didn't know who I was and after 00:08:24.81\00:08:28.73 talking to him I was convinced he wasn't working; he just 00:08:28.76\00:08:32.64 couldn't work. So I took the report back to my office and 00:08:32.67\00:08:36.41 had it typed up so nicely. I hired a young lady to type it up 00:08:36.45\00:08:40.82 you know on nice letter head and everything. I want to say to all 00:08:40.86\00:08:45.19 people that are going in business, if you're going to be 00:08:45.23\00:08:46.53 in business you give your best letterhead, you put it in the 00:08:46.57\00:08:49.84 best manner of a business setting. You have to be 00:08:49.87\00:08:54.43 professional if you want to do business with the corporate 00:08:54.46\00:08:58.95 world. So that's what I did and I put my bill there. I think the 00:08:58.99\00:09:02.79 bill was about $300, a lot of money at that time. I called up 00:09:02.83\00:09:06.16 the executive and told him, Sir I have finished the case and I 00:09:06.19\00:09:09.82 would like to bring it in. He said, sure bring it in. When I 00:09:09.86\00:09:13.58 arrived I went in this long office with fresh carpet and a 00:09:13.61\00:09:18.60 table with the vice president and all his aides sitting around 00:09:18.63\00:09:23.10 and they were just looking. They focused on me. He read the 00:09:23.13\00:09:26.90 report and he passed it around to each one and he looked at it. 00:09:26.94\00:09:31.25 He shook his head and he said it's good but how did you do it? 00:09:31.29\00:09:35.48 Now I wasn't going to tell him how I did it because if I had 00:09:35.52\00:09:40.47 told him that he may not need me anymore. He looked at it and 00:09:40.51\00:09:44.98 he said okay. Okay, thank you very much. Leave your report and 00:09:45.02\00:09:49.21 we'll get a check out to you in the next few days. We'll be 00:09:49.25\00:09:54.51 calling on you. So I went back and several weeks later they 00:09:54.55\00:09:58.48 called me again and said we have another case that we want you 00:09:58.52\00:10:02.86 to try and see how good you are, what you can do on this one. 00:10:02.89\00:10:08.60 Karen, this was a real test. I had received my check and I had 00:10:08.64\00:10:13.19 more confidence and I knew that God was with me. So they had me 00:10:13.23\00:10:18.06 go out and really spy on another young man that we know the guy 00:10:18.09\00:10:22.59 was working and drawing a check. So I drove to this housing 00:10:22.63\00:10:27.63 development and I parked my car and sat there and waited to see 00:10:27.67\00:10:33.04 would he come out. Say around about 9:30 I saw this young man 00:10:33.08\00:10:37.37 coming out, approximately 25 years old, and he was walking 00:10:37.40\00:10:41.62 a little girl. So he took her to school and in approximately 35 00:10:41.66\00:10:45.34 minutes he came back and went inside. And I said now Lord I 00:10:45.37\00:10:48.76 can't get in this house because he'll discover who I am. But I 00:10:48.79\00:10:52.15 noticed across in the housing development there were some 00:10:52.18\00:10:55.22 maintenance men working in the yard. So being a private 00:10:55.26\00:10:59.26 investigator you might as well look at everything and leave 00:10:59.29\00:11:03.26 nothing uncovered, all the Ts crossed and all the dots made. 00:11:03.30\00:11:06.33 So I said wait, let me see if I can get some information. 00:11:06.36\00:11:09.63 So I approached the men and I said do you know so and so? 00:11:09.66\00:11:12.86 I'm not going to call his name John Doe. They said yes, yes, he 00:11:12.89\00:11:17.23 used to work for us here. Huh, he used to work here? Sure he 00:11:17.26\00:11:21.04 worked here. How long ago? Well he stopped working approximately 00:11:21.07\00:11:25.49 three months ago but he worked here full time. I said by the 00:11:25.52\00:11:29.23 way, where is your management office. They gave me the address 00:11:29.27\00:11:33.38 in Brooklyn. That's all I needed because if I could prove that 00:11:33.41\00:11:36.99 this young man was working and drawing a workers compensation 00:11:37.02\00:11:40.57 check, it would be proof that he could work. So I went to this 00:11:40.60\00:11:45.58 address in Brooklyn and I walked in and identified myself as a 00:11:45.62\00:11:50.57 private investigator and I needed the books on this young 00:11:50.60\00:11:54.07 man. The payroll clerk had an attitude from anywhere. She said 00:11:54.11\00:11:57.71 oh yeah, he's lazy anyway. No he stopped working for us. She 00:11:57.74\00:12:01.31 pulled the books out and showed them to me and told me 00:12:01.34\00:12:03.94 everything. We got photo copies of everything. I typed my report 00:12:03.98\00:12:06.81 up and I took it back and the executives were excited. 00:12:06.84\00:12:10.05 Boy you're a good investigator, you broke the case. But the 00:12:10.09\00:12:15.18 thing about it Karen, before I could really have it sewed up 00:12:15.22\00:12:19.61 like in court you must have the evidence. Just like the cops say 00:12:19.65\00:12:23.49 we know you committed the crime but you got to prove it in court 00:12:23.53\00:12:27.14 so what I did, I used a pretext and I went in and interviewed 00:12:27.18\00:12:30.51 the guy. We sat you know and he drank the orange juice and we 00:12:30.55\00:12:33.68 talked and et cetera and I said okay thank you very much. 00:12:33.71\00:12:37.29 We have everything so I left. So I went back and took the 00:12:37.32\00:12:40.11 report and they said great, Ashley, you did a great job. 00:12:40.15\00:12:42.87 Thank you very much. We're going to pay you; your check will be 00:12:42.91\00:12:45.44 in the mail in a few days. But the strange thing about it, 00:12:45.47\00:12:49.50 Karen, a month later they called me up and they said Ashley, you 00:12:49.53\00:12:54.70 remember the young man, that case that you broke? Yes. Well 00:12:54.74\00:12:59.07 now you have to go to court. I said what do you mean I have to 00:12:59.10\00:13:02.69 go to court. This is the same man I used the pretext and sat 00:13:02.72\00:13:05.91 and interviewed him. Well that's the law. Sorry. You have to go 00:13:05.94\00:13:09.16 to court. So when I got in the court, who's staring each other 00:13:09.20\00:13:12.39 in the face? Me and the young man. He's looking at me. 00:13:12.42\00:13:15.12 So the attorney had an attitude with me that I played some 00:13:15.15\00:13:18.39 tricks on his client. He said your honor, would you tell 00:13:18.43\00:13:21.59 Mr. Cobb to give his address. So our attorney for the company 00:13:21.63\00:13:24.28 jumped up and he said no your honor we don't need to give the 00:13:24.32\00:13:27.21 address because you know how people are. They can come back 00:13:27.25\00:13:30.48 and harm him. So the judge said no we won't give the address. 00:13:30.52\00:13:34.31 At that point, the attorney for this young man got up and said 00:13:34.35\00:13:38.13 well we withdraw our case and we admit that he was working but 00:13:38.16\00:13:42.15 it was this and that. So that case was successfully completed. 00:13:42.19\00:13:45.87 I want to tell you, I still do work for that same company and 00:13:45.91\00:13:50.53 that's been about 18 years ago. I've made a numerous amount of 00:13:50.56\00:13:55.26 money and I've done many cases. But that case is the one that I 00:13:55.30\00:13:59.96 promised God whatever I made he would get 10% and for that 00:14:00.00\00:14:03.87 reason I've been in the business 18 years. I don't care how bleak 00:14:03.91\00:14:07.47 life may look when we put the Creator in front and make him 00:14:07.51\00:14:11.70 our partner... I'm not going to say there won't be hard times. 00:14:11.74\00:14:15.73 I'm not promising you that. No one is promised that life is 00:14:15.77\00:14:21.41 going to be a bed of ease, but I can say that God will bless 00:14:21.44\00:14:26.01 a business person if they make him first in their life. 00:14:26.04\00:14:30.57 So I was successful with that. 00:14:30.61\00:14:33.10 That is fantastic. Twenty-five years later, 9,600 cases, 98% 00:14:33.13\00:14:39.45 success rate today. Now let me tell you, now there's 00:14:39.49\00:14:42.75 company. Once you're good everybody else hears about you 00:14:42.78\00:14:45.97 and they want to use you. There is one case I want to talk about 00:14:46.01\00:14:52.07 This is a private case. It had nothing to do with being an 00:14:52.11\00:14:55.93 insurance case. Being a private investigator I've investigated 00:14:55.96\00:15:00.91 criminal cases, civil cases, insurance cases. I just have a 00:15:00.95\00:15:05.86 knack just to snoop around. 00:15:05.89\00:15:08.23 Maybe you got that from all 00:15:08.26\00:15:10.61 of your experiences right? From 00:15:10.64\00:15:12.34 when you were share cropping. 00:15:12.37\00:15:14.00 You had to watch those plants, you were responsible for all 00:15:14.03\00:15:17.52 those others. So you kind of developed those skills early in 00:15:17.56\00:15:21.01 life. I'd get in trouble around the 00:15:21.05\00:15:22.87 house about it. They were thinking I was snooping. No I'm 00:15:22.90\00:15:25.32 not, it's just my makeup. So one day I was sitting at my desk 00:15:25.36\00:15:28.63 and I was doing some insurance case and the telephone rang. 00:15:28.67\00:15:32.95 I picked it up and it was another private investigator 00:15:32.98\00:15:37.19 from Pennsylvania calling me. He said, I saw your name in the 00:15:37.23\00:15:41.77 yellow pages and I have a problem. I was just wondering 00:15:41.81\00:15:45.66 whether you could help me or not. I said, what is your 00:15:45.70\00:15:49.97 problem? He went on to say a client hired me here in 00:15:50.01\00:15:53.78 Pennsylvania to track her daughter down. She's been 00:15:53.82\00:15:57.52 missing for almost 15 years. We believe that she's dead but I 00:15:57.56\00:16:03.64 want to satisfy my client. She may be living and I tracked her 00:16:03.68\00:16:09.72 from a little town in Pennsylvania to Philadelphia and 00:16:09.76\00:16:13.80 from Philadelphia to New York and from New York back to 00:16:13.83\00:16:17.71 Philadelphia. So the trail is growing cold I think I would 00:16:17.75\00:16:21.14 just give it one more shot and maybe you could help me. 00:16:21.17\00:16:24.53 I said, what do you have? He said, well I have this 00:16:24.57\00:16:27.86 information. I said, well why don't you overnight it to me. 00:16:27.90\00:16:31.90 At that time you'd overnight it. The next day I received it. When 00:16:31.94\00:16:36.52 I received the information he sent a picture and the last 00:16:36.56\00:16:40.38 place where she had worked. But he really didn't have too 00:16:40.42\00:16:44.27 much. I was at my desk and at that time I paused and called 00:16:44.30\00:16:48.29 upon the Great I Am private investigator. When you call 00:16:48.32\00:16:52.43 upon the Great I Am private investigator he knows from the 00:16:52.47\00:16:56.45 beginning to the end. I told him well you know I don't really 00:16:56.48\00:17:00.35 where to find this young lady but I need your divine guidance. 00:17:00.38\00:17:04.17 I need it, I really need it because in my work the job can 00:17:04.20\00:17:07.99 be very dangerous at times and you need the Creator to walk 00:17:08.02\00:17:11.02 with you because you may go in places and never come out. 00:17:11.06\00:17:13.98 Your wife or you family, you may go away and they don't see you 00:17:14.02\00:17:16.87 anymore. They may fish you out of the river somewhere or you 00:17:16.91\00:17:20.03 may be dumped in some basement or barrack somewhere and they'd 00:17:20.06\00:17:23.14 never find you. It has happened to private investigators. 00:17:23.18\00:17:26.92 So after praying I called up one of my colleagues and at that 00:17:26.96\00:17:31.42 time he had a computer and I said would you run this date of 00:17:31.46\00:17:35.22 birth through the computer and maybe you can come up with an 00:17:35.26\00:17:38.41 address. So he said okay Ashley. Approximately 15 minutes later 00:17:38.44\00:17:40.89 he called me and he said, hey, Ashley, I think I got a 00:17:40.93\00:17:43.34 hit. What hit in private investigation terms doesn't 00:17:43.37\00:17:50.33 mean that you went out and shot someone like the mob. Let me 00:17:50.37\00:17:54.58 explain. In other words, it means you came up with some 00:17:54.62\00:17:57.13 information. That's the language Every profession has its own 00:17:57.17\00:17:59.25 language. So a private investigator will say I think I 00:17:59.29\00:18:02.10 got a hit. He said, well, take your pen and he gave me this 00:18:02.14\00:18:05.19 address. He said we came up with that she at one time she worked 00:18:05.22\00:18:09.44 at a plant somewhere in the Bronx, Bronx, New York. 00:18:09.48\00:18:12.22 So okay; with that information I began to do my leg work. 00:18:12.25\00:18:16.86 Now a good investigator must know how to snoop. You have to 00:18:16.90\00:18:20.41 do some leg work. You can't sit up and do it all on your 00:18:20.45\00:18:23.83 computer and telephone. So you got to get out and as we say 00:18:23.86\00:18:27.72 beat the bushes and get down into it. So I put my private 00:18:27.76\00:18:33.03 investigation tact in action. So I went to these plants and 00:18:33.07\00:18:37.27 factories until we traced her back to an address in the Bronx. 00:18:37.31\00:18:41.67 Now this is the exciting thing. So I got to this particular 00:18:41.71\00:18:46.42 address, a tall, 5-story brick building tenement, you know, 00:18:46.45\00:18:50.28 congested area, working class neighborhood. It seems like the 00:18:50.32\00:18:53.38 may eat you or shoot you. They don't know which one they will 00:18:53.42\00:18:56.56 do. Your just the wrong person in the wrong place. Especially 00:18:56.60\00:18:59.45 if you don't belong there. You don't belong there. You look 00:18:59.49\00:19:02.75 just like a cop, you look just like a police officer or someone 00:19:02.79\00:19:05.90 So I traced her there. I thought about it and said, I don't want 00:19:05.93\00:19:09.46 to go in and frighten her if she's there. So I looked up the 00:19:09.50\00:19:12.94 superintendent of the building and I asked him, do you know 00:19:12.98\00:19:16.39 this certain person. I had to speak in a manner so he didn't 00:19:16.42\00:19:20.21 become suspicious, because if he is a friend of that person he's 00:19:20.24\00:19:23.52 going to alert them that some one is looking for them. I could 00:19:23.56\00:19:26.70 have been an immigration officer or I could have been an under 00:19:26.73\00:19:30.62 cover FBI agent or a New York City police officer, or a parole 00:19:30.65\00:19:34.78 officer looking for you to lock you up. He told me, well I think 00:19:34.81\00:19:39.22 someone fitting her description lives up on the third floor and 00:19:39.26\00:19:45.17 you know you can go up there and check. So I did. I went in 00:19:45.21\00:19:49.43 gracefully and knocked on the door, kind of a nervous knock. 00:19:49.46\00:19:54.46 No one was home. I said okay so I may have her address. So I 00:19:54.50\00:19:59.25 went back to my office. The next day again I went back to the 00:19:59.29\00:20:04.33 same location and I went in and knocked on the door and she 00:20:04.37\00:20:09.35 opened the door. I said well I'm an insurance investigator. Never 00:20:09.38\00:20:13.45 mention private investigator. You never mention private. 00:20:13.49\00:20:15.78 There's something about people the word private detective and 00:20:15.82\00:20:18.94 private investigator sends a shock. They figure it's like on 00:20:18.97\00:20:23.20 television. You know, you solve a case in a half an hour 00:20:23.23\00:20:27.49 and you make $20,000. Magnum PI. You have this convertible 00:20:27.53\00:20:31.74 and this beautiful young lady driving with you. In America the 00:20:31.78\00:20:35.96 average person figures that's the way it happens though. 00:20:36.00\00:20:37.72 So she opened the door. She had gained weight. I always have the 00:20:37.75\00:20:44.02 gift of gab. I was able to persuade her to let this 00:20:44.05\00:20:47.23 stranger come in and talk to her. That's a real gift. 00:20:47.26\00:20:50.37 Yes, well I have a gift for gab they say. I'm able to persuade. 00:20:50.40\00:20:54.69 I have no problem getting in. If you were in the house and I 00:20:54.72\00:20:57.83 was going to investigate sooner or later I'll talk my way into 00:20:57.87\00:21:00.59 it. Most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time 00:21:00.63\00:21:03.96 I find my way into it. So she let me in and we got to talking 00:21:03.99\00:21:07.87 and during the conversation she identified herself and I said oh 00:21:07.90\00:21:12.09 I got her. She told me about she had worked for this factory 00:21:12.13\00:21:16.42 and she had become ill and she had a child and she couldn't 00:21:16.45\00:21:20.33 work anymore. But that's all I needed. I said okay thank you 00:21:20.36\00:21:23.56 ma'am. We'd get back in contact with her. Because she was 00:21:23.60\00:21:26.48 thinking it was probably some workers compensation check that 00:21:26.52\00:21:29.94 they owed her. So I was ready to leave now. As I was about to 00:21:29.98\00:21:33.71 make my get away, I've got my information. As I walked out I 00:21:33.75\00:21:38.04 looked in the face of this tall 6-foot man and you could see 00:21:38.07\00:21:41.49 under his coat he was carrying a large gun. He was packing. 00:21:41.53\00:21:44.63 He was packing; that's what you say. I didn't know whether he 00:21:44.66\00:21:48.55 was a police officer or the gangsters or some drug dealer. 00:21:48.59\00:21:53.48 I said oh what a jam I've got myself in. I didn't carry a gun. 00:21:53.52\00:21:57.76 I'm 5'4" standing up against this large strong man. He looked 00:21:57.80\00:22:04.12 like he had followed all the health rules. He had exercised 00:22:04.16\00:22:10.30 every day in the gym, like he ate proper, slept proper and 00:22:10.33\00:22:16.40 exercised and I'm saying oh my, Lord, how am I going to get out 00:22:16.44\00:22:20.40 of this. As I was going he said, hey you, come back here. I want 00:22:20.43\00:22:24.04 to talk to you. So he said, what are you doing coming out of my 00:22:24.08\00:22:27.70 house? I said, well sir I'm just an insurance investigator and I 00:22:27.74\00:22:31.05 was searching around and looking for a particular woman. I didn't 00:22:31.09\00:22:34.57 tell him that I was looking for that one. He said, well I don't 00:22:34.61\00:22:37.58 like for people to be hanging around my house. Okay, I said, 00:22:37.61\00:22:40.77 thank you and I got out. So I drove back to my office and I 00:22:40.80\00:22:43.92 called up the private investigator in Pennsylvania. 00:22:43.96\00:22:46.09 I said, we've got a hit, this is her. But one thing; she has a 00:22:46.13\00:22:50.20 man. I don't know whether he's a police officer, gangster or a 00:22:50.24\00:22:54.02 drug dealer. I said we have to get back. He said, Ashley, 00:22:54.06\00:22:57.51 you have to know this is the person. I said, why don't you 00:22:57.55\00:23:02.09 get your client and you drive over. Okay, the next day they 00:23:02.13\00:23:06.46 drove over and we went to this house and we knocked on the door 00:23:06.50\00:23:09.88 and they weren't there. So we were all three of us standing 00:23:09.91\00:23:13.55 out there. He brought his private investigator and I was 00:23:13.58\00:23:17.14 and he had the client. There was nobody there, as I said. We came 00:23:17.18\00:23:22.72 outside and we were standing and everybody in the 00:23:22.75\00:23:24.31 neighborhood was looking at us, looking at this black guy and 00:23:24.35\00:23:28.07 two white guys. I knew they figured they've got to be cops. 00:23:28.10\00:23:31.52 They're waiting to make an arrest. So we stood there and 00:23:31.56\00:23:34.91 tried to not stir up any motion. The client was standing around 00:23:34.94\00:23:38.61 and so about 15 minutes later the same guy who had said hey 00:23:38.64\00:23:42.23 you come back here, he drove up and he focused on me. I guess he 00:23:42.27\00:23:44.97 said well what happened now. He had his wife and that was 00:23:45.01\00:23:48.62 the client's daughter. So when they saw each other she says 00:23:48.66\00:23:52.44 look and the client got out of the car and grabbed the daughter 00:23:52.48\00:23:56.63 around the neck and hugged. The guy who had called me back said 00:23:56.66\00:24:00.77 I knew you had to be a private investigator or something. 00:24:00.81\00:24:03.59 He said, I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry. I'm a police officer 00:24:03.63\00:24:07.77 myself. He was one of the good guys. But you know he was 00:24:07.81\00:24:11.02 looking mean. They have to be that way because you know I 00:24:11.05\00:24:14.18 could have been anybody coming to harm his family. So the 00:24:14.21\00:24:16.99 mother got a chance... Yes the mother and the father hugged 00:24:17.02\00:24:19.73 they daughter. At that time the girl was off drugs. She had aged 00:24:19.76\00:24:23.34 and she was more mature but she was ill taking medication. 00:24:23.37\00:24:26.82 You know it was so emotional till I cried myself and private 00:24:26.86\00:24:30.27 investigators don't usually cry. 00:24:30.31\00:24:32.26 Well that's very touching. Fifteen years. 00:24:32.29\00:24:34.19 Fifteen years and it was a great family reunion. We even took 00:24:34.22\00:24:38.43 pictures of that and that is one of my stories that I talk 00:24:38.47\00:24:42.61 about. Now Karen I have 100s of other stories more exciting than 00:24:42.65\00:24:46.49 that. It just shows that God led me through dangers, the ups and 00:24:46.52\00:24:50.32 downs and he blessed me and brought me out with the surety 00:24:50.36\00:24:53.85 of God. There's no better feeling whenever you can help 00:24:53.88\00:24:57.30 somebody. My motto is I may not pass this way again but whatever 00:24:57.34\00:25:02.81 I can do for humanity let me do it now. Then my life, my living, 00:25:02.84\00:25:08.27 will not be in vain. 00:25:08.31\00:25:09.53 Amen. That is just an incredible story. I want to share right 00:25:09.56\00:25:13.67 now with our viewers: Hasn't this been riveting. I was at the 00:25:13.71\00:25:17.28 edge of my seat the entire time. Listen, if you'd like to have 00:25:17.32\00:25:20.85 Ashley come to your church group or to your business to motivate 00:25:20.89\00:25:24.39 your employees or whoever, or if you'd just like to hear 00:25:24.43\00:25:27.61 him again besides the cassettes that introduced earlier in the 00:25:27.64\00:25:31.54 program and the book that's soon to come out, call that 00:25:31.57\00:25:34.70 800 number and find out how you can reach Ashley Cobb. 00:25:34.74\00:25:37.79 He is available to come and talk with you, to come and motivate 00:25:37.83\00:25:42.53 your employees and especially to share with you personally 00:25:42.56\00:25:45.58 how God has made a difference in his life. We going to ask 00:25:45.62\00:25:48.42 Ashley will you please pray with us right now. I know there's 00:25:48.46\00:25:51.77 somebody out there who has been touched personally by the fact 00:25:51.80\00:25:55.43 of your own witness is so powerful how God has led in your 00:25:55.46\00:25:59.01 life. If you'd like God to be leading in your life we're going 00:25:59.05\00:26:02.56 to pray with you right now. Will you pray with us please. 00:26:02.59\00:26:06.33 I'll be glad to do that. Father in heaven, I thank thee 00:26:06.37\00:26:09.84 for letting me share my experience with this audience 00:26:09.87\00:26:13.28 and with Karen. I pray that you let my experience be a blessing 00:26:13.31\00:26:18.83 to someone who needs you. Lord we know that our experience as 00:26:18.86\00:26:23.55 we let you lead us can be a blessing to others. Those that 00:26:23.58\00:26:28.23 have been touched by my experience let them go out 00:26:28.27\00:26:31.68 themselves and help others. When we help others, we're helping 00:26:31.71\00:26:35.86 ourselves. Amen Amen. Well again thank you so 00:26:35.90\00:26:40.76 much for coming to our program today. We've got time for just 00:26:40.79\00:26:45.86 one more instance. Was there a scripture, anything in the Bible 00:26:45.89\00:26:50.35 that was leading you at this time as a promise when you were 00:26:50.39\00:26:55.79 building your business. Well I would go back to Malachi 3:3. 00:26:55.82\00:27:01.25 And I've thought about that. Will a man rob God, yet you have 00:27:01.28\00:27:06.67 robbed me in tithes and offerings. Bring your tithes 00:27:06.71\00:27:09.98 into the storehouse... If I will not open you the windows of 00:27:10.02\00:27:12.64 heaven and pour you out a blessing that you will not have 00:27:12.68\00:27:15.88 room enough to receive it. That's what I relied on and 00:27:15.91\00:27:19.08 other scriptures. That was my main one. 00:27:19.11\00:27:23.05 You decided to go ahead and let God be your partner in business. 00:27:23.09\00:27:27.77 That's right. That will assure success. 00:27:27.81\00:27:29.67 And you started with your very first case doing that. 00:27:29.70\00:27:32.32 Doing it from the very first and then doing it ever since. 00:27:32.35\00:27:34.32 For 25 years and God's still your partner. 00:27:34.35\00:27:36.51 Still my partner. Still paying tithe. 00:27:36.54\00:27:38.38 Still paying tithe. Still being blessed. 00:27:38.42\00:27:40.19 Still blessing me more than I can talk about. 00:27:40.22\00:27:43.29 Well thanks again so much for coming to our program today. 00:27:43.33\00:27:46.68 We look forward to having you back again very soon. 00:27:46.71\00:27:49.70 For those of you at home, again, call that 800 number 00:27:49.74\00:27:52.64 if you'd like to know more about how to reach Ashley Cobb 00:27:52.67\00:27:55.62 and how to hear more of his exciting stories of how God 00:27:55.66\00:27:58.57 has led in his life. May God continue to lead you 00:27:58.60\00:28:01.63 in your life. Thank you for joining us on Issues and Answers 00:28:01.66\00:28:04.34