Jesus...our choice?

And if it seems evil to you to choose the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:15 NKJV

Joshua was drawing a proverbial line in the sand for the Isrealites.  He had reminded them how the Lord had blessed them from his servant Abraham, through the exodus from Egypt all the way to the land they were residing in.  Joshua asks the Isrealites to make a covenant to honor God.  God had blessed the Isrealites even though they had strayed from him.  Now, Joshua asked them to once again commit to following the Lord.  The Isrealites responded with a YES!  Of course, we know that Isrealites continued to stray, and God continued to be merciful and patient with them.  God never puts us in a position where he demands that we follow him, he wants us to choose him willingly.  

Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons of Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Ephesians 1: 4-5

Predestination is the doctrine that God, with knowledge of all things, chose those people who would follow him, and thus, those who would perish.  From the Greek word Proorizo, which is defined as "dtermine beforehand," "ordain","to decide ahead of time."  Ephesians 1:4-5 would seem to solidify this thought.  Could the creator of all the universe actually have knowledge beforehand of evrything he intended to accomplish?  Yes, that seems like a question with a obvious answer.  However, there are people who get upset that, along with predestination, comes the knowledge that God ordained those who would fall away from him as well.  I have no problem in the belief that God, in his mercy and grace, chooses who he will call to himself.  Something else this eliminates is the human belief that if we work hard enough, we can punch our ticket to heaven.  Yes, but the scripture is also clear that our efforts alone will not produce our salvation.  Our salvation is not in our hands, that's Gods department.  So, it's my guess we're not in control of our own destinies after all.