diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/iu/grnoc/flowspace_firewall/FlowSpaceFirewall.java b/src/main/java/edu/iu/grnoc/flowspace_firewall/FlowSpaceFirewall.java
index c7691cc..e6f11c2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/iu/grnoc/flowspace_firewall/FlowSpaceFirewall.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/iu/grnoc/flowspace_firewall/FlowSpaceFirewall.java
@@ -430,8 +430,8 @@ public void init(FloodlightModuleContext context)
 		}catch(InvalidConfigException e){
 			logger.error(e.getMsg());
 		}
-
-		if(this.slices.size() == 0){
+		
+		if(this.slices == null || this.slices.size() == 0){
 			logger.error("Problem with the configuration file!");
 			throw new FloodlightModuleException("Problem with the Config!");
 		}