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?!!!”