Christmas Story about a True Champion

What comes to mind when you hear that word? Since it is the season, one might think of the NFL Super Bowl Champions. A title that has been shared over the years by multiple different teams.
There’s also the world heavyweight champion in boxing and, if you’re MY age, Muhammad Ali might come to mind. Or the Hollywood story of how Rocky Balboa became a champion
Think also about a high jumper or pole vaulter in the Olympics. The highest one gets a gold medal for their effort. The title of Champion is all to often passed along. When that person or team has done what they needed to do, they go home, get in bed, grab a pillow and lay their head down.
Now I’m going to tell you about a different kind of champion. One that holds the title for something that, in my humble opinion, makes any game plan in football completely fail. Or has a punch that even the great Muhammad Ali would fear. And never mind setting the bar so high you would need a pilots license to clear.
In fact you could compare THIS champion to a champion mentioned in the Bible. A man by the name of Goliath stood strong and tall and massive. That is until a man named David walked out of the crowd.
The champion I’m referring to goes by the name of Zachary Phillips. And when it comes to being a champion, it was the furthest thing from his mind. Probably just like David in the Bible, little Zachary  just new that there was a Goliath sized problem and it needed to be taken care of.
God willing, everyone reading this gets to go home and lay their head on a pillow to go to sleep at night. Unfortunately there are quite a few among us who can’t do the same. Not only do they not have a bed, but they likewise have no pillow … referring to the multitude of homeless citizens in the city of Kingman, Arizona.
Ironically enough, Zachary is also a member of the Champion Church on east northern avenue. When he and his mother were helping this small church organize a Goliath task with Christmas stocking donations, Zachary came up with an idea.  He told his mother that the homeless at least need pillows since they all too often don’t even have a bed.
Zachary is no ordinary child. He is an energetic, fun loving, happy 9 year old boy … with Autism.
Not only did little Zach come up with the pillow idea on his own, he learned how to use a sewing machine and got busy making pillows.
This Super Hero of a Champion didn’t make just 1 or 2 or 5 or even 10 pillows. Zachary Phillips made enough pillows for the next Olympic champion high jumper or pole vaulter to have a nice soft place to land. Zachary made 100 pillows and, just like David in the Bible, he took care of this Goliath task all by himself. And that is a true champion.