diff --git a/src/node_flat_sql.erl b/src/node_flat_sql.erl
index 724958eb1..240dc3760 100644
--- a/src/node_flat_sql.erl
+++ b/src/node_flat_sql.erl
@@ -1064,15 +1064,14 @@ rsm_page(Count, Index, Offset, Items) ->
 	     last = Last}.
 
 encode_stamp(Stamp) ->
-    case catch xmpp_util:decode_timestamp(Stamp) of
-	{MS,S,US} -> encode_now({MS,S,US});
-	_ -> Stamp
+    try xmpp_util:decode_timestamp(Stamp) of
+	Now ->
+	    encode_now(Now)
+    catch _:{bad_timestamp, _} ->
+	    Stamp % We should return a proper error to the client instead.
     end.
 decode_stamp(Stamp) ->
-    case catch xmpp_util:encode_timestamp(decode_now(Stamp)) of
-	TimeStamp when is_binary(TimeStamp) -> TimeStamp;
-	_ -> Stamp
-    end.
+    xmpp_util:encode_timestamp(decode_now(Stamp)).
 
 encode_now({T1, T2, T3}) ->
     <<(misc:i2l(T1, 6))/binary, ":",