Google geocode status always empty
===

I am new to geocode. I am getting the zip code from the user finding the lat and long and comparing it with a set of nearby locations who latitude and longitude are present in a JSON. So I have to loop through each event to compare. The geocode status is always empty and hence I am not able to get the lat and long for the zipcode which the user has entered. 

    <script src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script>

This is my Js function.
 

    self.find_events = function find_events(zip, eventId) {
            var data = LAH.events.events_data,
            matches_found = 0;
            var today = new Date();
            var zip = zip || null;
            var eventId = eventId || null;
            geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
            if(geocoder){       
            geocoder.geocode( { 'address': zip }, function(results, status) { // status is empty
            if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
            var userLat = results[0].geometry.location.lat();
            var userLng = results[0].geometry.location.lng();
            userLatLng = results[0].geometry.location;
            }
            });//end geocode        
            } 
            for (var i = data.length-1; i--;) { 
                if (eventId === null) {
                    var eventEnd = data[i].endDate;
                    var calc_dis = calculateDistance(userLat, userLng, parseFloat(data[i].lat), parseFloat(data[i].lng));
                    if ((zip == 'all' || calc_dis === true) && today < eventEnd) {
                        display_event(data[i]);
                        matches_found += 1;
                    }               
                }
                else {
                    // eventId is valid, only display what we found in the query string
                    if (data[i].eventId === parseInt(eventId, 10)) {
                        display_event(data[i]); 
                        matches_found += 1;
                    }
                }
    
            }       
            matches_found ? display_table() : display_no_results();     
            return matches_found;
        };

After the line **geocoder.geocode( { 'address': zip }, function(results, status)** it skips directly to the **for loop**.