george

 

I was about 4 or 5. I was (and also still am) a big fan of Disney’s George of the Jungle. Not part two, don’t bring up that one.

I had it on VHS and watched it all the time. It’s probably the first movie where I had a crush on a character. It made me really love Brendan Fraser’s acting, then I went on to watch some of his other movies like Mrs. Winterbourne and Still Breathing. (Recommend giving both movies a chance)

Anyways. George. King of the jungle. Now let’s jump to one bright, sunny Sunday morning at church. Knowing how my mom loved to dress me, I was probably sitting in the pew wearing a dress and had my hair all done.

I remember we were all singing this song that went like, “He is the king of the jungle, He is the king of the sea, He is the king of the universe, and He is the king of me.”

Of course, this song was obviously about Jesus, but you couldn’t explain that to me. The preacher walked around with his mic asking kids who the king of the sea/universe/etc. was. So of course who does he eventually come to but me. When he asked me who the king of the jungle was, what did innocent me do? I yelled out, “George!”

For people in the congregation who knew about the movie, they laughed and thought what I did funny. Others gaped and thought I was insane and wondered who the heck was this George I was praising? The preacher knew who George of the Jungle was, and chucked over it, but then he tried to correct me that it was Jesus, not George.

We ended up having a small argument over it. Him saying Jesus was king of the jungle and George wasn’t real; me bring firm that George was. It got to the point that my brother (who’s three years my elder) told the preacher he was fighting a losing battle. So the preacher gave up and moved on.

End of story. George is king of the jungle. Praise George. 😉