Transcript of Michael Hamby's tearful eulogy

Partial transcript of Michael Hamby’s emotional eulogy during Thursday night’s memorial service at Ladonia (Ala.) Baptist Church for his conjoined sons, Asa and Eli, who died Dec. 5, the day after Robin Hamby gave birth to them in Atlanta:

“First of all, on behalf of my family, I want to thank y’all for being here. But what I want to tell you first is y’all being here is ordained by God. Watching this and hearing what I have to say is what He wants.

“This is a story about Eli and Asa that I want to tell you. But before I tell you this story, I have to start from the beginning. Thirty-six years ago, God told my father he was going to have a son. He was going to name him Michael. He also told him there was going to be problems in the birth. I was supposed to be born with no skull, a water-head baby. The doctors told my parents to abort, just like they told us to abort. We can’t do that.

“God also told and showed my father that I’d be standing before a congregation as I am now. All my life, I’ve dealt with bullying, being deaf. I never understood why I had to go through this. God was working on my heart, making me strong, because He knew what He was sending me.

“When I found out that I was having twins, I was excited. When I found out they was conjoined, I was scared to death. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to handle it. So every night of the entire pregnancy, I’d go outside and I prayed to the Father. Each time I’d stay out there longer and longer and longer.

“One night, God told me to light a fire. And lighting a fire at my house is near impossible. My wife wouldn’t even let me light a candle. (Laughter.) But He told me to light a fire, so I did every night. I never understood why He told me to light a fire, until as we got closer (to the delivery), it started coming in clearer.

“God told me you have to have three components to a fire: You gotta have oxygen; you gotta have fuel; and you gotta have spark. God is the oxygen.

“When we was waiting on the MRI, after we just got done hearing the doctors tell us that they was concerned about their breathing, God spoke to me in the waiting room. He said turn to Genesis 2:7. ‘I made man from dust, and I breathed life into him.’ That is what He said to me.

“... He sent the boys here for a reason. A lot of people go a lifetime and can’t figure out what their reason is. But I know. They’re a spark. They’re the ones who softened your hearts, brought us all together – not just inside this room but worldwide. The boys have reached out, all over the world, to soften your hearts, to open your eyes up. Why? This is what’s going to blow you away; it blows me away still.

“Why did God send two beautiful angels like this, joined like they are, with one heart? Well, to soften your heart, of course, to open your eyes up, because He’s not happy with the way we’re treating our brothers. You look in the news: People fighting in Missouri; people fighting overseas. He’s not happy with us. So the only way to show everyone is to send a symbol to soften your hearts.

“These boys loved each other so much. Even in the womb, I could see on ultrasound video them loving on each other and holding each other, grabbing each other’s arm. They loved each other.

“They fought hard. Even laying in the NICU, their hearts racing 300 beats a minute – just hard. I was scared to death because I couldn’t hear nothing in there. My wife was at another hospital. I reached my face down in between them, and I said, ‘Hold on. Please, hold on.’ And they did. Robin got there. We got to hold them, kiss them, sing to them, love them. Their heart near exploding, they were strong.

“ Standing here before y’all and telling you what God wanted, I did what my Father wanted me to do, as they did what their Father wanted them to do.

“ So, what I say to you as I end this, we’ve got to be good to one another and love one another, as they did. You have to put that word out. You have to tell everyone. I know we’re just country folk, but it starts with a spark. We’re the fuel, and we’ve got to let it run like a fire. Thanks, y’all.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Transcript of Michael Hamby's tearful eulogy."