Things Brought to Heaven

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 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 heard his plea and appeared to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man begged 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 has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathered his largest suitcase and filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man died and shew up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St Peter.

Seeing the suitcase, St Peter said, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"

But, the man explained to St Peter that he had permission and asked him to verify his story with the Lord.

Sure enough, St Peter checked it out and came back saying, "You're right. You are allowed to take one suitcase with you, but I was supposed to check its contents before letting it through."

St Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, "Oh, you brought pavement!!!"