Problem displaying correct date in homemade widget

Hello,

I just put together my first widget via a plugin that pulls in the closest upcoming event. The event date is a custom fields date field (using Flutter). The code works fine for me as part of a page template, but once I put it into the plugin/widget the date doesn’t display correctly. Here is the date code that’s not working for me:

echo date('l, F j, Y', mktime(0,0,0,$etest[1],$etest[2],$etest[0]))

Here is the full plugin code (note I had to add “(int)” to the Year because of an error message I was getting on number length):

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Upcoming Event Widget
Plugin URI: https://www.joshofsorts.com/
Description: Widget that shows upcoming events and exhibits at the museum.
Author: Josh McCool
Version: 1.0
Author URI: https://www.joshofsorts.com/
*/

function upcoming_widget() {
  echo "<div class='current-box'>";
  echo "<b>Next Event</b><br />";
  $todaysDate = date('Y-m-d');
  query_posts('showposts=1&category_name=events&meta_key=event_start&meta_compare=>=&meta_value=' . $todaysDate . '&orderby=meta_value&order=ASC');
  if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
  $sdat = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_start', true);
  $stest = explode('-',$sdat);
  $edat = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'event_end', true);
  $etest = explode('-',$edat);
  echo "<div class='event_date'>";
  echo date('l, F j, Y', mktime(0,0,0,$stest[1],$stest[2],(int)$stest[0])); unset($stest); $startdate = get_post_meta($post->ID, "event_start", $single = true); $enddate = get_post_meta($post->ID, "event_end", $single = true); if ( $enddate == $startdate ) {echo "";} else {echo " - "; echo date('l, F j, Y', mktime(0,0,0,$etest[1],$etest[2],(int)$etest[0])); unset($etest);;};
  echo "<br />";
  echo get('event_times'); $starttime = get_post_meta($post->ID, "event_times", $single = true); $endtime = get_post_meta($post->ID, "event_timee", $single = true); if ( $endtime == $starttime ) {echo "";} else {echo " - "; echo get('event_timee');};
  echo "</div>";
  echo "<div class='event_title'>"; echo get('event_name'); echo "</div>";
  echo "<div class='event_sum'>"; echo get('event_desc'); echo "</div>";
  endwhile; else:
  echo "<p>"; _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); echo "</p>";
  endif;
  echo "<br />";
  echo "<b>Feature Exhibit</b><br />";
  query_posts(array('category_name' => exhibit, 'showposts' => 1)); if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
  echo "<div class='event_title'>"; echo get('event_name'); echo "</div>";
  echo "<img src='"; echo pt(); ?>?src=<?php echo get('event_thumb'); echo "&f=jpg>&w=250>&h=200>&zc=C' />";
  endwhile; else:
  _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.');
  endif;
  echo "</div>";
}

function init_upcoming(){
	register_sidebar_widget("Upcoming Events Widget", "upcoming_widget");
}

add_action("plugins_loaded", "init_upcoming");

?>

In order to sort by the custom field dates I have to save the information as YYYY-MM-DD and then explode the information and reorder it to display as above. Any suggestions? I think it’s time I crack open my Php book and learn more than I have just to get by. Thanks in advance!