Getting Multi-Selected Items From ListActivity

/* PROBLEM: Trying to get selected items from a multi-select ListActivity and assign to ArrayList 'items' The App runs fine up until the 'button' view is clicked to Toast out the items that were selected from the ListActivity, but app crashes upon call to onClickHandler. */

package com.tests.TestCode;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import android.util.SparseBooleanArray;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity {

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

   final String[] list = {"wrenches","hammers","drills","screwdrivers","saws","chisels","fasteners"};

   // Initializing An ArrayAdapter Object for the ListActivity
   final ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String> (this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_multiple_choice, list);
   setListAdapter(adapter);

   Button button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);
   button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

        public void onClick(View v) {

            ListView thelistview = (ListView) findViewById(android.R.id.list);
            ArrayList<String> items = null;

            SparseBooleanArray checkedItems = thelistview.getCheckedItemPositions();

            if (checkedItems != null) {

    /********* PROBLEM STARTS HERE **********/

                for (int i=0; i<checkedItems.size(); i++) {
                    if (checkedItems.valueAt(i)) {
                        String item = adapter.getItem(checkedItems.keyAt(i)).toString();
                        items.add(item);
                    }
                }
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), items.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

    /********* PROBLEM ENDS HERE **********/

            } else {
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "checkedItems == null", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }
        }

     });
  }
}

THE MAIN.XML LAYOUT:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<TextView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="@string/hello" />

<Button android:id="@+id/button"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Selected Items" />

<ListView android:id="@android:id/list" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:choiceMode="multipleChoice"
    android:textFilterEnabled="true" android:fastScrollEnabled="true" >
</ListView>

</LinearLayout>