There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved
because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be
able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he
might be able to take some of his wealth with him.
An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't
take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to
God to see if He might bend the rules.
The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The
angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow
him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his
largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it
beside his bed.
Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to
greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you
can't bring that in here!"
But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks
him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter
checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one
carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting
it through."
St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the
man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought
pavement?!!!"
