Skateboarding or Jesus

I really vividly remember being with Karina as a large Christian gathering while I was a youth pastor in Southern California. It was a sort of youth rally/evangelistic crusade. One of the main appeals of the gathering was skateboarding. And one of the main things that kept being communicated over and over again during the gathering was the message, "You can be a Christian and still be a skateboarder."
I remember thinking this was strange.
It's not that I don't like skateboarders. I think Christians can be skateboarders, and musicians, and businessmen, and athletes, and authors. But what are we saying when we say to someone, "You can be a Christian and still. . ."?
More importantly, what is someone asking when they ask, "Can I be a Christian and still. . ."?
Well, it depends on what they still want to do, right? If they still want to play video games, date, watch TV, or become a stockbroker, then we would say, "Sure." After all, there is nothing in te Bible forbidding any of those things.
On the other hand, if they still want to sleep with their girlfriend, smoke pot, get drunk, shoplift, and sacrifice cats, we would say, "No." After all, the Bible forbids those things. Maybe it does not forbid us to sacrifice cats, but there might be a law in our country against it.
Again, though, I have to ask, what is it that is being asked. In both cases it seems like the person is asking, "Do I still have some control over what I get to do?" This should cause us pause. Are we unintentionally telling people, "Come to Jesus, and you can still do whatever you want as long as it is not forbidden in the Bible"? Is this the gospel?
Christ calls us to abandon all and follow Him. Leave everything behind. He didn't want one man to go back and bury his father, and He didn't want another one to go back and say goodbye to his family. I know that we have exegesis that tells us that both of these men were asking to go back for extended amounts of time. Still, the point is that Jesus was calling for absolute devotion from anyone who wanted to come and follow Him. No exceptions. No part of our life remains our own.
Can I still skateboard if I become a Christian? When we're asked this, we should pause. We need to probe and find out what is behind this question.
Also, we need to ask ourselves how much we are to blame for this. How are we presenting the gospel as a call to bring Jesus into our lives instead of leaving all behind to orient our lives around Him?