diff --git a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
index 4c764595f..147486830 100644
--- a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
@@ -1,2 +1,10 @@
 module StatusMessagesHelper
+  def my_latest_message
+    message = StatusMessage.my_newest
+    unless message.nil?
+      return message.message + " " + time_ago_in_words(message.created_at) + "ago."
+    else
+      return "No message to display."
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/status_message.rb b/app/models/status_message.rb
index 20add29c5..87b3dea78 100644
--- a/app/models/status_message.rb
+++ b/app/models/status_message.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ class StatusMessage
   before_create :set_default_owner
   
   def self.newest(owner_email)
-    StatusMessage.last(:conditions => {:owner => owner_email})
+    message = StatusMessage.last(:conditions => {:owner => owner_email})
   end
   
   def self.my_newest
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
index c1c10fe68..9653e463d 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 - title "Home"
 
 %h3 Your latest message
-%h2= "#{StatusMessage.my_newest.message} #{time_ago_in_words(StatusMessage.my_newest.created_at)} ago"
+%h2= my_latest_message
 
 %br
 %br