Well, thanks for you email.  I can't claim I know exactly how we're saved.  I face challenges all the time.  From a pure 
calvinistic viewpoint, we wouldn't need to spread the Gospel because everyone who was chosen would be predestination be saved; 
but Romans 10:14 says "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of 
whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" - The world needs people to share the Gospel.  
  My primary objection to the free will gospel is that it requires intelligence.  A retarded person or an aborted baby cannot 
be saved unless they devise provisions for that, like "well, God only sends you to hell if you're smart enough to know you did 
wrong" - the Bible says we are born sinful.  What does that mean if all babies went to heaven automatically?  We should have 
no problem with abortion in that light.
  Furthermore, John seems to have been saved while in the womb (he leapt in the presence of Jesus), and if you asked Saul if 
he wanted to be saved, I'm quite sure he would have said "NO!" (that is, his salvation was not his will) - but God struck him 
blind and immediately converted him.
  One of the most often used analogies goes like "Salvation is like being shipwrecked in the sea, about to drown: Jesus throws 
you some floatation device. If you refuse it, you drown; if you accept it, you're saved!"
  But why can't we say: "Salvation is like being drowned to death in the sea. Not only does Jesus rescue you by taking you out 
of the sea, but He also restores your life from the dead!"
  One involves our response, the other is by God's grace and mercy.  I talk a little more about these analogies at 
http://web.mit.edu/cjoye/www/theology/  .