Rich man takes his most precious possessions along with him 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?!!!"