A rich man was near
death, and became very upset because he had
worked so hard for his
money and he wanted to take it with him to
heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his
wealth along. An
angel heard his plea and appeared to him.
"Sorry," the angel said, "but you can't take your wealth with you."
The man implored the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the
rules. The man continued to pray that his wealth could follow him.
The angel reappeared and informed the man that God had decided to
allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man got his
largest suitcase, filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his
bed. Soon afterward the man died and showed up at the gates of heaven to
greet St. Peter.
St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, "Hold on, you can't bring that
in here!" The man explained to St. Peter that he had permission and told
him to verify his story with God.
St. Peter checked and came back saying, "You're right. You are allowed
one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting
it through." He opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that
the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, "You brought
pavement?"
source:alt.quotations