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The concept of predestination, God's free gift of saving grace, and man's free will do raise some apparent difficulties, but let's see if we can sort them out.

First of all, we know that God desires all men (ie. humankind) to be saved. (1 Tim 2:3-4) We know that God would not desire something that is impossible. And indeed, all things are possible for God. (Matt. 19:26) Therefore, it must be possible for all men to be saved.

On the other hand, God has made man in His own image. (Gen. 1:27) Man has a rational mind, a heart to love with, and a free will with which to choose. So it is possible for man to choose to reject God's offer of saving grace.

In addition to this, God sees everything from the perspective of eternity. He knows what we will say before we say it. (Psalm 139:4) Does that mean we are pre-determined in what we say, think, or do? If God already knows what we are going to do, why does He let us do it? I would say because He respects the free will that He has given us. As my dad once told me: A lot of times when you were growing up, I would tell you not to do something knowing full-well that you would go ahead and do it anyway. But I let you make that choice and face the consequences of your actions.

I have also found an excellent explanation in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

600. "To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of 'PREDESTINATION', he includes in it each person's free response to his grace: 'In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.'[Acts 4:27-28 ; cf. Ps 2:1-2 .] For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness.[Cf. Mt 26:54 ; Jn 18:36 ; Jn 19:11; Acts 3:17-18.] 'He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures'"

1993. "Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:
When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own FREE WILL move himself toward justice in God's sight.[Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525.] "

To view the context, please visit http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/salve.html#AND

SOME FURTHER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
In Ephesians Chapter 1 - I think that we aren't predestined (like we have no choice or some he made for salvation and others to perish), but that it means that Christ was "predestined" or the plan was laid out before the foundation of the world for those who would choose. Is this correct??
Yes. The plan for our salvation was laid out before the foundation of the world. God planned to become Man so that men could become like God - holy and blameless in His sight.

Ephesians 1:4-5 says he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ....
Doesn't this mean that Christ was predestined and all who believe are adopted? So it's not like God just picked out some folks who He made able to accept Christ while others He didn't.
Exactly. God has choosen, in the sense of invited, everyone to be holy and blameless in His sight, but it is up to each person to freely respond and accept that invitation. God has destined each of us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, but it is up to each individual to freely follow and pursue, with the help of God's grace, that destiny of divine adoption. On God's part, the grace is not lacking. On our part, we must freely choose to respond and cooperate with God's saving grace.

I've heard some bible teachers say that "You were chosen". Like I or believers were selected for salvation and the girl sitting next to me at work wasn't. Don't we all have the same ability or free will to choose???
Exactly. Jesus' parable about the sheep and the goats (Mt. 25:31-46) presupposes that each person had sufficient free will in order to chose to do or not do the works of mercy that Jesus is using as His sole criterion for judging the nations. If each person did not have sufficient free will in order to chose to do or not do these works of mercy, then Jesus would not be using a fair criterion for judging them (which is impossible since Jesus is fairness itself).
If we each didn't have the ability to freely choose, there would have been no point in Jesus telling His disciples to "Strive to enter through the narrow gate". (Luke 13:24 He does say that some will attempt it, but will not be strong enough. I would say that they are not strong enough for one basic reason: not sufficiently cooperating with the means of saving grace that God provides. (As a side note here, I must admit that I myself have not always cooperated with God's grace. And yet, God, in His great loving mercy, has continued to call and invite me until I began cooperating more fully with His grace. I still continue to struggle to die to myself and cooperate more fully with His grace. I think this is the case with most people. Thus, our Lord's exhortation to strive and make every effort . . . )
You were chosen. So was I. Judas Iscariot was also chosen. He was chosen by Jesus Himself to be an apostle. And yet, Judas Iscariot freely chose not to fulfill his calling to be an apostle. He freely chose to betray Jesus. Jesus knew well ahead of time that Judas Iscariot would betray Him (John 6:70-71), yet Jesus chose Judas anyway. We are all called (in one way or another) to be adopted children of the Father through His Son, Jesus. It is up to us whether we heed and fulfill that calling or not. But it must be stated emphatically, that each person is offered salvation by God (in one way or another, though His preferred stated way is to make the offer through those who have already come to believe, Mt. 28:19-20) and each person is at least sufficiently capable of receiving that saving grace.

And would God have said to go into the world and preach my word if it didn't matter or wouldn't make a difference???
No. There wouldn't have been any point to it. It may be quite obviously the case that, "Many are invited, but few are chosen" (Mt. 22:14), but they are chosen AFTER the fact of them FREELY CHOOSING to follow the invitation. If you freely choose to respond (and reciprocate) to God's invitation of saving love, then God will freely choose to save you from your sins. That's how love works. Love does not impose itself on the Beloved. The Lover makes the offer and leaves the Beloved free to respond to His love. And so it must be, otherwise it is not love. But God IS Love. And so the process of salvation must operate in this fashion.