global $user;
    $user_timezone_name = date_default_timezone_name(TRUE);
    $user_timezone = date_default_timezone(TRUE);
 
    // Convert the user entered date into a PHP 5 DateTime object
    $local_date = new DateTime($text_date);
 
    // Reformat the user entered date into an ISO date that date_make_date() will accept
    $iso_date_string = date_format_date($local_date, 'custom', 'Y-m-d\TH:i:s');
 
    // Create a DateTime object with the user's timezone info
    $utc_date = date_make_date($iso_date_string, $user_timezone_name, DATE_DATETIME);
 
    // Change the timezone to UTC
    date_timezone_set($utc_date, timezone_open('UTC'));
 
    // Format the UTC version of the DateTime for use in node->save()
    $utc_date_string = date_format_date($utc_date, 'custom', 'Y-m-d\TH:i:s');
 
    return $utc_date_string;