Android: How can I Convert String to Date?

I store current time in database each time application starts by user.

Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
    String str = c.getTime().toString();
    Log.i("Current time", str);

In database side, I store current time as string (as you see in above code). Therefore, when I load it from database, I need to cast it to Date object. I saw some samples that all of them had used "DateFormat". But my format is exactly as same as Date format. So, I think there is no need to use "DateFormat". Am I right?

Is there anyway to directly cast this String to Date object? I want to compare this stored time with current time.

Thanks

======> update

Thanks dear guys. I used following code:

private boolean isPackageExpired(String date){
        boolean isExpired=false;
        Date expiredDate = stringToDate(date, "EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss zz yyyy");        
        if (new Date().after(expiredDate)) isExpired=true;

        return isExpired;
    }

    private Date stringToDate(String aDate,String aFormat) {

      if(aDate==null) return null;
      ParsePosition pos = new ParsePosition(0);
      SimpleDateFormat simpledateformat = new SimpleDateFormat(aFormat);
      Date stringDate = simpledateformat.parse(aDate, pos);
      return stringDate;            

   }

From String to Date

String dtStart = "2010-10-15T09:27:37Z";  
SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");  
try {  
    Date date = format.parse(dtStart);  
    System.out.println(date);  
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();  
}

From Date to String

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");  
try {  
    Date date = new Date();  
    String dateTime = dateFormat.format(date);
    System.out.println("Current Date Time : " + dateTime); 
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();  
}

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy");
Date d = dateFormat.parse(datestring)

     import java.text.ParseException;
     import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
     import java.util.Date;
     public class MyClass 
     {
     public static void main(String args[]) 
     {
     SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss Z yyyy");

     String dateInString = "Wed Mar 14 15:30:00 EET 2018";

     SimpleDateFormat formatterOut = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy");


     try {

        Date date = formatter.parse(dateInString);
        System.out.println(date);
        System.out.println(formatterOut.format(date));

         } catch (ParseException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
         }
    }
    }

here is your Date object date and the output is :

Wed Mar 14 13:30:00 UTC 2018

14 Mar 2018