Along the coast of New York is a little town called East Hampton. And I recently read that there is a cemetery in East Hampton where you can find 12 identical graves that have been laid side by side. There’s a story behind them, of course.

All the way back in the 1800s, there was a terrible storm in that area. A passing ship struck a rock and began to break apart and sink. It was close enough to land that the townsfolk could see the ship foundering and see the sailors struggling. It was close enough that they could actually fire ropes out to the ship. Twelve of the sailors managed to climb into a lifeboat and grab hold of one of the ropes. The townspeople began to pull it in, drawing the sailors closer and closer to shore. But just as they were about to touch land, the rope snapped. A huge wave flipped the lifeboat and threw them all into the sea. Not one survived. And so as their bodies washed ashore, they were taken to the cemetery and laid to rest.

Just imagine coming that close to rescue but still drowning. Even though those 12 men got almost close enough to touch land, they suffered the exact same fate as those who went down with the ship. To be almost rescued is no different from not being rescued at all. To be almost saved is still to be completely lost.

Source: https://www.challies.com/articles/to-be-almost-saved-is-to-be-completely-lost/

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