title: Parsing String to Date error
body: <p>Why is this not working? I'm parsing a String using the SimpleDateFormat, but this is producing an error on the line inside the try {}.</p>
  
  <pre><code>String timerDate = "28 05:24:50"; // timer will stop when reached this date
  
  public String getTimer() {
      SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd HH:mm:ss");
  
      Date currentDate = Calendar.getInstance().getTime();
      Date stopDate = null;
      try {
          stopDate = format.parse(timerDate);
      } catch (ParseException e) {
          e.printStackTrace();
          return "";
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>(there is more code proceeding it but it's irrelevant. It cannot parse.</p>
  
  <p>Exception Message:</p>
  
  <pre><code>java.lang.NullPointerException
      at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.parse(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_121]
      at java.text.DateFormat.parse(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_121]
      at com.thefuzzyhead.octopia.util.general.MOTDManager.getTimer(MOTDManager.java:98) ~[?:?]
      at com.thefuzzyhead.octopia.util.general.MOTDManager.&lt;init&gt;(MOTDManager.java:22) ~[?:?]
      at com.thefuzzyhead.octopia.Main.onEnable(Main.java:37) ~[?:?]
      at org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPlugin.setEnabled(JavaPlugin.java:321) ~[spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPluginLoader.enablePlugin(JavaPluginLoader.java:335) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at org.bukkit.plugin.SimplePluginManager.enablePlugin(SimplePluginManager.java:405) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_8_R1.CraftServer.loadPlugin(CraftServer.java:356) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_8_R1.CraftServer.enablePlugins(CraftServer.java:316) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at net.minecraft.server.v1_8_R1.MinecraftServer.q(MinecraftServer.java:402) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at net.minecraft.server.v1_8_R1.MinecraftServer.k(MinecraftServer.java:370) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at net.minecraft.server.v1_8_R1.MinecraftServer.a(MinecraftServer.java:325) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at net.minecraft.server.v1_8_R1.DedicatedServer.init(DedicatedServer.java:211) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at net.minecraft.server.v1_8_R1.MinecraftServer.run(MinecraftServer.java:505) [spigot-1.8.jar:git-Spigot-eb87f2b-ee6d0fa]
      at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.8.0_121]
  </code></pre>